Who Won the Cold War?

Our beloved President Bush announces that May 1 shall henceforth be known as Loyalty Day.

UPDATE: As noted by Instapundit Glenn Reynolds (or someone signing his name) in the comments thread, any implication that our beloved President Bush invented this sad little day would be incorrect. As near as I can tell, Eisenhower in 1958 was the first president to make it a day of national observance, and most states were observing it already by the late 1940s.

Comments

[Glenn Reynolds]

"Loyalty Day" actually goes back rather a long time. Clinton proclaimed 'em, too.

[Glenn Reynolds]

Oops. Hit "post" instead of preview. Here's a link to a page saying that it started in the 1930s. Here's the United States Code section defining "loyalty day."

But most importantly, here is a blog post by John Cole with links to lots of history, pointing out how silly people are making themselves look by acting as if this were some new and Orwellian initiative.

Actually, it's an old Orwellian initiative!

[Brian Doherty]

Yes, it's true: I was not aware that this had been going on for a long time. Still, my one sentence, link, and the implied disgust in the headline stand.

[s.m. koppelman]

I like the idea of shouting down a holiday--in this case, one focused on labor solidarity--with a counterholiday. Maybe next year the White House will do more than just issue a proclamation. They should encourage parades across the US with participants dressed as Pinkertons and old-time police officers armed with clubs, maces, dogs and rifles, to commemorate the good old days of labor negotiation at gunpoint.

[Anonymous]

mountain

molehill

bahh!

[rusty]

Gloating Doherty Strikes Again!
Does anything he post ever have any validity or logic? Please send him back to writing graffiti on bathroom walls.

[Sir Real]

As intrigued as I am by the idea (does this make the other 364.25 days of the year Disloyalty Days?), this just seems like another one of those Days we've heard so much more about during this administration (On National Prayer Day: "God, please impeach George W. Bush..."). I recognize Clinton did this too- I just don't recall them intruding on my awareness like these do.

I will say that Eisenhower was really prescient to make Loyalty Day May 1st- I suppose if a pagan holiday is going to be labeled-over, ham-handed social engineering and communist riots are equally off the mark.

(Full Disclosure- last years May Day Riots in Soho, London were a blast! I was most impressed with the "Legalize Prostitution" conga band. I don't support the shutting down business/property damage, but can definitely get behind legalizing prostitution, some substances, and dancing with attractive half-naked teenagers...)

[Jough]

"intruding on my awareness"

LOL - I hate it when that happens!

[Sir Real]

Jough-

Please stop intruding on my awareness.

Regards,
Sir

[joe]

I'd be inclined to agree that this a mole hill, if it weren't to incredibly creepy. Loyalty Day? Ick.

May 1 is May Day; always has been, always will be.

[rusty]

RE: Update: any implication...

Bullshit, the only reason Doherty posted it in the first place was because he thought Bush "invented" it.

Like so many other ridiculous things our govt does, they only interest the doherty's of the world if they can find a way to blame them exclusively on Bush.

Loyalty Day, Drug Laws, etc are idiotic no matter who is in the White House.

[Anonymous]

Brian,

What in the world did you do to these people?

[Gene Berkman]

So Comrade Bush wants to continue May 1 as "Loyalty Day."
As they say in France "M'aidez!"

[Rick Barton]

Pres.Bush Wrote:

"This Loyalty Day, as we express allegiance to our Nation and its founding ideals, we resolve to ensure that the blessings of liberty endure and extend for generations to come."

OK, but it would have been better said "we express allegiance to our constitution" instead of "nation". What could "allegiance to our Nation" mean besides "allegiance to our government" which is very unAmerican. Also; "to ensure that the blessings of liberty endure and extend for generations to come" we should work to keep government small and fight the Patriot Act.

[joe]

Rick,

What could "allegiance to our Nation" mean besides "allegiance to our government"

Nation=Volk You know, "real Americans?" The ones who aren't afraid to use a little muscle to keep the commies and mouthy women in line.

[JJ]

Rusty writes, "Like so many other ridiculous things our govt does, they only interest the doherty's of the world if they can find a way to blame them exclusively on Bush."

I can think of three explanations for this strange statement:

a) Rusty is completely unfamiliar with Doherty's work, the majority of which does not cite Bush at all and much of which is critical of other presidents.

b) Rusty IS familiar with Doherty's work, and is lying about it.

c) Rusty enjoys typing random words. This time, they happened to form a mostly coherent sentence.

[Madog]

To be more correct, he probably should have said State instead of Nation, since a Nation traditionally is an ethnicity.

That notwithstanding, I prefer the original way my ancestors celebrated May Day - having sex in the fields, getting drunk, and eating too much.

[rusty]

Rusty is familiar with BD's work and finds that he has often made strong, well-reasoned and unique criticisms of Clinton and the Democratics as well as Bush and the Republicans. However, with Bush and Co. he often falls into the mainstream trap of settling for the snide remark, sarcastic tone or unresearched cheap shot/smear.

Also, Rusty does enjoy typing random words and is quite frequently incoherent.

Oh, and please analyse and insult my syntax, spelling, etc - it makes for quite constructive political conversation

[Rick Barton]

I said:

"we should work to keep government small"

I should have said: "we should work to MAKE government small" since government is now menacingly, and in many ways, unconstitutionaly big.

[Anonymous]

Rusty and Mr. Stinker don't like Bush bashing becuase they're afraid they might choke on him. Bash Bush when they're done fellating him.

[Mr. Stinker]

Mr. Noname: Bush bashing and moral releavism are excuses for not thinking. I expect better from Reason editors and regular posters. Luckily I don't from cowards who post ad hominem insults anonymously.

[Anonymous]

MayDay has a fine and ancient tradition. In my youth (far away and long ago) I can remember such curiosities as maypoles, Morris dancers and the like. It was a fun event that signalled the start of summer.

Perhaps because it was very much a peasant's holiday, the authorities banned or refused to observe it. Certainly, early industrial owners never observed holidays (Christmas was barely maintained for a while as a day off).

Not sure how the or why the communists took it over. Does it matter?

[rusty]

oh so intelligent dot-connecting joe: not a very original "stunt" since it was pulled off by Clinton & every other pres over the last 50 years. As for your lame little list of dots, you can find as many Democrat as Republican examples of abuse in these areas. I'm sure you were in the street screaming while Clinton was getting the worst ratings ever by your beloved ACLU, just as you were incensed by Dukakis playing at AF pilot and American Indians getting paid to vote for Gore....

[Frenk]

"Loyalty Day"! Hot dog!

I am looking forward to the first real Loyalty Day, when all loyal Americans can show their loyal devotion to the loyal Great Leader with pledges and speeches on loyal political themes. The loyal Dear Leader George W. Bush will lead the loyal nation in the Pledge of Loyalty at 6 p.m.

[Kevin Carson]

I'm pretty sure Loyalty Day dates back to the war hysteria/red scare days of Woodrow Wilson and A. Mitchell Palmer. It was an outgrowth of the same culture that produced the American Legion and "100% Americanism." So it's closer to the time of "liberty cabbage" than "freedom fries."

Identifying May Day with the Stalinoids ignores the fact that it arose from the American 8-hour day movement, and was celebrated by all branches of the workers' movement--including free market individualist anarchists like Tucker and Labadie.

[joe]

First he rigs his election. Then he dresses up in military garb to take credit for a victory, and says his critics are disloyal. Now "Loyalty Day." What country is this?

[WhyNotMinot]

joe,

Please explain to me again how Bush rigged the election? Did he make the decision that the electoral college determines who is President and not the popular vote? How dare he demand that the election be resolved in a manner required by our constitution.

[Johnathan Pearce]

Okay, a suggestion from a Brit - how about
Don't Tread on Me Day?

[joe]

Whynot,

He had his brother and campaign manager purge legal voters from the registration list, and did so in a way that harmed his opponent. His brother opposed efforts to make sure the voting equipment in poorer, blacker districts was sound, resulting in more votes being discarded in areas that support his opponent. He used every legal and administrative opportunity to prevent the tallying of an extremely close vote from being made more accurate. He argued for a loose, intent-based standard for determining the legality of mail-in ballots (a subset that favored him), while arguing for a strict standard for ballots cast by the general public. He staged a riot to prevent poll workers from performing a recount they were ordered to do by a court.

You know, when you add in the governor/brother cheating for him, and the mob, it looks even more like a sub-Saharan dictatorship.

[Mr. Stinker]

"What country is this?"

Apparently from the headline it is "equal" to "worse" than the Soviet Union.

In Brian's World: A made-up holiday that nobody gives a shit about = gulags, 60 million murdered, decades of oppression....

Something smells stinky here...

[Mr. Stinker]

Constitutional electoral process = shithole dictatorship in sub-Sahara africa.

Let's see how many of these retread moral equivalency arguments I can find on this site! Bush is Hitler. All States are equally evil! Don't liberate the Cubans, they are better off in anarchy like the paradise of Somalia, because the US is equal to the Soviet Union. See it's fun to turn off your brain!

[joe]

Lots of shithole African elections are carried out according to constitutions. Hell, Saddam's 100% was constitutional. Our constitution doesn't contain the guarantee that votes will be counted, or that the winner in a state will get the electoral votes (as when the GOP-led Florida legislature drew up bills to grant the votes to Bush, regardless of how the recount turned up).

But I still don't think applying different standards to ballots, or kicking citizens off voting rolls, is strictly constitutional.

[Steve]

Joe, you are so full of shit, your eyes MUST be brown. The only one who tried to "steal" the election was Gore, who tried to get an illegal recount of votes from people too stupid to figure out the machines by going to a Democrat packed State Supreme Court that "decided" there should be a recount where there was no ned or provision.

You lost. Deal with it. We dealt with President Clinton for 8 years. Get used to it.

[rusty]

Thank you all for being so kind as to provide example upon example proving that the motive for this posting has nothing to do with some stupid 60 year old "holiday." Once again, it's all about Bush-bashing. Guess he hasn't made any huge verbal gaffes lately.

[joe]

Rusty,

Damn straight it's about Bush bashing. This latest stunt is just more evidence that he is fundamentally opposed to the norms of democratic governance - the right of the people to choose their leaders (Florida), the right to dissent from the ruling party's line without committing treason (with us or against us, don't support the troops), the separation of presidential authority from military command (dressing in military garb, playing fighter pilot), repsect for the right of political minorities to retain a voice in the political order (nomination hardball, holding out and forcing party line votes), the firewall between the party apparatus/activities and official government actions/staff (General Rove, using a carrier for a campaign shot).

He behaves less like an elected leader in a mature democracy, and more like a dictator in a one party state. Each further example only reinforces the others, and connecting dots is what intelligent people do.

[Nielsen Lief]

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DATE: 01/21/2004 12:46:16
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