Labor Day?

Mina, I don't think I understand your position on Labor Day. It's a national holiday, and most of us had the day off, with pay. We don't do May 1, though we could if we felt like it.

"Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country." [Dept of Labor Web site]

I certainly had the opportunity to go out among my fellow citizens and engage in dialectic on the subject of work. I chose to sit around and pet my dog and read poetry. My idea of Labor Day, though a cold beer might have been nice. But there were parades and demonstrations, and God bless those people too.

I think you're implying that the government ought to make sure we get out and march around or something. The government is involved in this matter very little, and that's exactly enough. You push that "we all ought to" button once or twice, next thing you know we're all out waving red banners, dressed in identical jumpsuits. I don't look good in a jumpsuit. Besides, rights aren't given, they're taken. But that's another blog.

The disposition of all power is to abuses, nor does it at all mend the matter that its possessors are a majority.
- James Fenimore Cooper

My flag is flying from my balcony, in dissent and patriotism as it pleases me. And here I am on the Internet, saying unequivocally and without fear that I dissent generally from the policies of the administration in Washington, which do not rightly reflect the ideals and peaceful intentions of the American People. The war in Iraq is wrong, and I'm voting democratic in 2004.

Nothing is more revolting than the majority; for it consists of few vigorous predecessors, of knaves who accommodate themselves, of weak people who assimilate themselves, and the mass that toddles after them without knowing in the least what it wants.
-- Goethe