**Previously recorded by Phyllis Schlafly//February 2012**
I won’t be among those celebrating Presidents Day today. I can think of a lot of Presidents who don’t deserve to be honored with a holiday. But George Washington surely does, and in fact, this third Monday in February is, by federal law, George Washington’s birthday, not Presidents Day. The calendars goofed up the name of this holiday by calling it Presidents Day at the time when we made our holidays fall on Mondays.
Ask your children why we honor George Washington as First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of His Countrymen. If they don’t know, teach them some facts about Washington that they won’t learn in school. Among the many great men of his time, he was the acknowledged leader. He earned and retained the enthusiastic loyalty of his men because of his daily adherence to sound judgment, justice, and zeal for duty.
George Washington was a man of tremendous personal honor and integrity. With George Washington, what you saw was what you got. The public man and the private man were one and the same. He is an extraordinary example of a public official whose character was above reproach and whom praise by others did not corrupt.
The liberals and secularists have tried to make Washington out to be only a deist. But deists do not believe in miracles or in the intervention of the Lord to help humans. Records show that Washington was a lifelong member of the Anglican church, and he repeatedly implored God for “His protection and favor.”
It’s clear from Washington’s recorded prayers that he prayed for the direct intervention of God to aid our victory for independence. And it’s also clear that Washington believed that God did intervene to help the Americans attain victory at crucial times during our War of American Independence.
George Washington was America’s indispensable man. It’s no exaggeration to say that, without his leadership, we would not have a United States of America.
