The superficial problem is it a confection. In federal law, the holiday is still designated as “Washington’s Birthday.” It is a fluke of the calendar that the first president’s birthday, February 22, falls so close to the birthday of Lincoln’s, February 12. This, combined with the wishes of car dealers and mattress sellers, led to people transforming the holiday on the third Monday in February as an all-purpose “Presidents Day.” The name suggests we honor Lincoln and Washington no less than Richard Nixon or Warren G. Harding or Donald Trump.

This hints at the more profound problem. A democracy really shouldn’t be mythologizing presidents at all. From the left it seems obvious that we don’t need a holiday honoring 46 presidents, all of them men. From the right it seems obvious that we don’t need to be honoring the aggrandizement of Washington-based politicians.

Yes, by all means let’s keep a day off to reflect on lessons of the American past. But let’s make this about real history — an invitation to humility and renewed commitment to national purpose — rather than mythological history, an invitation to arrogance and complacency. A better name would be Citizens Day. It seems likely Lincoln himself would agree.