Dead, White Males

In honor of the holiday it seems a good time to point to the veneration of dead, white males in the material culture of government, which is also commemorated on government websites. It was bad enough when Unitarian feminist activist Susan B. Anthony was substituted with more safely allegorical baby-toting bartered Sacagawea on the dollar coin. But now they're both being replaced by a presidential line-up on the dollar coin, so that the general public will take the circulation of big change more seriously. See the features of the new coins here. Of course, the ironist in me loves the fact that people will be carrying around presidents Taft and Andrew Johnson in their pockets.