By Steve Byas

While it is common to refer to the third Monday in February as "Presidents Day," no such holiday exists in federal law. The federal holiday is still "George Washington's Birthday Observed," but even the post office puts up signs on its doors that they will be closed on "Presidents Day." It is another demonstration of the lawless attitude that exists, where laws or the Constitution do not have to be changed to accomplish liberal objectives.

The move to downgrade the Father of our Country is disgraceful.

Putting Washington in with Nixon and Clinton makes no sense. The reason that Washington was honored with a separate day was not because he was our first president, but rather his role in securing our nation's independence as the Commander in Chief in the war against the British. Surely, Washington's role as President of the Constitutional Convention and as first president add to his well-earned title as "Father of his Country," but without Washington's service in our war for independence, our country would have never been born.

Thus, he is the father of his country.

Near the end of the Revolutionary War, there was a movement to make Washington our first King, or at the very least, a military dictator. All Washington had to do was give his consent, and our experiment in self-government would have gone the way of most revolutions, giving us an authoritarian dictatorship.

In many ways, the difference between the Republic of Mexico and the Republic of the United States is the difference between Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and George Washington.

But, now there is an effort to replace Washington's image on the quarter-dollar coin with Theodore Roosevelt!

Unfortunately, while the holiday is still "George Washington's Birthday Observed" at the federal level, a few years ago our Oklahoma Legislature did officially change the name of the state holiday to Presidents Day. Today, our school children in Oklahoma are taught more about the communist fellow-traveler Woody Guthrie than they are about Washington.

The Republican Party presently has overwhelming majorities in both houses of the Oklahoma Legislature, and a Republican resides in the Governor's Mansion. I ask the Oklahoma Legislature to change the day back to Washington's Birthday Observed.

Our children are growing up knowing very little about the man who was truly the "indispensable man," and the greatest person in our nation's history. Every January, we have parades to honor Martin Luther King, and the media duly notes the day with front-page stories and features on evening newscasts. The governor even rang a liberty bell this year.

I have no problem with the King Day celebrations. But, why not honor George Washington? We have a day to drink green beer (St. Patrick's Day) and all the rest, but no day exists to honor the man, without whom there would be no liberty bell to ring, this year or any other year.

Surely there is one legislator out of 149 who still has enough respect for the Father of our Country to change the third Monday in February to "George Washington's Birthday Observed."