AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

In the rest of the world, today is May Day. Read the Guardian story here and look at its photo coverage of world May Day events here.

In the U.S., since the late 1950s, it's not May Day: it's Law Day, a day on which we are supposed to reflect on the virtues of our legal system. Instead of celebrating the transformative power of our own work in concert with others, we're supposed to celebrate the conserving and sustaining power of judicial work, as Bush notes in today's proclamation (via How Appealing).

In other words, once a year, every year, there is a day on which radical critics of the de-mobilizing power of the legal culture are simply right.

MORE: Oh, and it's Loyalty Day, too. How's that for double-barrelled action! So if you celebrate May Day, you're not only lawless: you're also disloyal. Seems like overkill to me.

AND STILL MORE: Today is also the National Day of Prayer. Read the WaPo story here.