Yes, many of us are near a pool or at least grilling some steaks on the coals right now. (speaking in the USA, other nations can add some info) National holidays are determined by Congress or Presidential order? We take them as added pay, or a day off. They represent something more. Today, I have invited all my employees to bring some brew, bring something to cook on the grill, play water volleyball and to have some time to hang out at my home. It means the summer is gone, but Labor Day means them. They work hard for me and I want to give back to them. Other national holidays have more background. In other nations, Labor Day is May 1st, right? I am all in favor for September 11 being a National Holiday. I will close my business any and all September 11, but the USA is not all in favor for this day off. What do you think?
I assume you mean federal holiday as opposed to national holiday, there is a difference as the United States does not actually have national holidays. An example to illustrate this is MLK Day, as you no doubt recall there was a bit of a controversy back in the mid-90s as NH and AZ did not observe this date (to be honest, I'm not quite sure if either do now), despite the fact that these two states did not recognize the day it was still considered to be a federal holiday. Neither the President nor congress has the power to declare a holiday for anyone other than federal institutions or employees, I guess this is one of those 10th Amendment issues where decisions like that are delegated to the states themselves As far as declaring 9/11 a federal holiday, I just can't see it. I hate to make the comparison to 12/7/41 because I don't think it's appropriate, but that's the closest point I can make, but we don't take holiday on December 7th every year. We already have a holiday to commemorate events like this, it's called Memorial Day.