And a Merry Christmas to you, too

Well, well, well. The fight to save Christmas has finally made its way to the Northern Neck. First, let me say to you all, “Merry Christmas.” And a “Happy Chanukah.” And a “Happy Kwanzaa.” I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and are looking forward to a glorious New Year.
(Excuse me, but why don’t you just say “Happy Holidays” instead? Well, if I say that, you might think I hate Jesus.)
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And, from what I have heard on the television, he is under fire from tree-hugging, Hillary-loving hippies.
You might think that having people wishing each other “Happy Holidays” would be a good thing. After all, this is the time of year when some of us celebrate Christmas, some celebrate Chanukah, some celebrate Kwanzaa and some celebrate all three or two or maybe none at all. Yes, it can get quite confusing.

John Gibson’s book “The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought,” (which you can buy just in time for the holiday, er, Christmas season for just under $20 at bookstores everywhere) and a new resolution by Republican Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis, whose district includes the Northern Neck, are waging war on the liberals who want to do away with Christmas.
Now, our country has done away with many traditions. We had a tradition of not letting women vote, but those darned liberals changed that, too.
No one in this country, except perhaps the guy with tin foil wrapped around his basement walls to keep the aliens out, believes that the country will do away with Christmas.
But let’s look at House Resolution 579, introduced by Rep. Davis and paid for by your tax dollars. “Christmas Season has become a vague, generic ‘holiday season’ spanning from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, representing nothing and celebrating anything.”
Yes, the so-called “Holiday Season” also includes celebrations for Chanukah and Kwanzaa. Honoring the Festival of Lights and the First Fruit Celebration, respectively, doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. I don’t know that I would characterize this as “celebrating anything.”

Another question Rep. Davis asks, in a press release called “Protecting the Symbols and Traditions of Christmas,” is this-”Who would have thought that we would live in a society where the display of Santa Claus and the mentioning of a Christmas tree would bring out the speech police?”
I find it a little odd that Davis would suggest that a Christmas tree is some sort of Christian tradition at all, much less that it is under siege.
First, the liberal hippies she worries about wouldn’t attack the Christmas tree. It’s a tree, dude. It’s totally cool.
Second, the History Channel has a little something to say about the Christmas tree and its history in our society. It seems that it was not always a “tradition” of Christianity. It has more to do with the Winter Solstice and bringing vegetation indoors to celebrate the season. According to the History Channel: “[A]s late as the 1840s Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and not accepted by most Americans.” Seriously. Rep. Davis says that an assault on the Christmas tree is anti-Christian? Although Jesus Christ was God’s gift to the world, he was born in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. Not bought at a department store and wrapped up under a Christmas tree. Really. It’s in the Bible. She can look it up.

In discussing the resolution, Davis said, “My resolution is a simple sense of Congress defending Christmas and its symbols and traditions.” I have to admit that I don’t know what that means. I know what it means to call something simple. I don’t think that’s a good thing. If she means that the resolution is simple, then, I’m not really one to argue with a congresswoman.
This alleged “War on Christmas” is absolute bunk and we all know it.
These scare tactics work well to rally the party faithful and distract people from policy politics. Good politicians know that the way to sneak something through the legislature is to throw up smoke screens by saying “Gay Marriage” or “Social Security Reform.”
If some retail store sends out a sales circular that says “Holiday Sale,” I’m pretty sure that is allowed under the Bill of Rights. If a talk radio wants to fill its airwaves with rants about schools saying “Holiday Break” instead of “Christmas Break,” then that is fine, too. I think it’s generally a good idea to include as many faiths and holidays as we can.
As a terribly bright Virginian once said, “That government is best that governs the least.”
I have never heard Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, or any great fighter for liberty say “Give me a Christmas tree and a 20-percent-off Christmas sale or give me death.”

Besides, instead of worrying about whether some store clerk says “Happy Holidays,” shouldn’t we be worried about healing the sick and ministering to the poor? Isn’t, perhaps, that what the season, whether Christmas or Holiday, is about?
And didn’t Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, say that we should give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s? If I go to the store to buy a DVD player, the store is more than welcome to give me a holiday discount instead of a Christmas discount. Somehow, that will not destroy Christmas in America.
These stores aren’t discounting Christ. They’re discounting DVD players.
That Americans now are upset that a department store clerk says “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” strikes me as petty.
That politicians and pundits would stir up a “War on Christmas” in order to rally the party base against hippie liberals is insulting.

Free speech is a part of America. We should not attempt to force retailers to capitulate to the narrow-minded attacks of people trying to limit the inclusion of certain groups. If someone wants to wish me a “Happy Holiday,” then I would say God bless them. That is very nice of them.
Davis concedes in her press release about the resolution that it is “non-binding and does not carry the force of law.”
Well, now, then I’m sure it will do so much good.
You know what does carry the force of law? The First Amendment.
Merry Christmas. And Happy Holidays.