The Christmas season
begins officially for me on Thursday, the Feast of good St.
Nicholas, or as we call it back home in western Pennsylvania, “Belsnickle.”
Time for my annual insistence that “Peace on earth to men of
goodwill” is a better slogan than “Peace on earth, good will to
men.” The better version assumes the recipient has been nice, not
naughty, and is therefore deserving of peace instead of
incarceration, or at least removal from elective office.
While it’s very jolly
to watch the Obamacare debacle — for those of us who haven’t yet
lost our health insurance — mostly, politics won’t be so merry. Next
week the latest bipartisan congressional committee has a deadline
for the latest plan to head off another government
shutdown/debt-ceiling crisis. Here’s a cheery holiday message for
you: Bloomberg reports that “Negotiators have little chance of
breaking this string of futility.”
Meanwhile, here at the
state, the Associated Industries of Massachusetts reports that the
bipartisan Tax Fairness Commission definitely seems to be defining
fairness as a graduated income tax, but it’s looking at everything
including Proposition 2˝. And though
the final count on the latest initiative petitions hasn’t been
released as I write this, Gov. Patrick has already declared war on
the petition to stop the automatic gas tax increase. Just push those
taxpayer activists over the cliff on a sled, Gov. Grinch. I predict
that Christmas will come anyhow.
Yes, it’s time for the
annual battles on removing Christ from Christmas, lighting “holiday
trees” for some reason, having nothing to do with the centuries-old
celebration of the birth of Jesus. And look, there are sales at the
mall, people standing in line, wait, are they fighting over the
50-inch televisions? Peace on Earth indeed.
I could never
understand why some people didn’t love Christmas as much as I did,
but if it weren’t for the lights in the neighborhood windows, the
cards/newsletters from old friends, Celine Dion singing “O Holy
Night” and, of course, the recurring lessons learned by Ebenezer
Scrooge and the Grinch, I might be starting to dread the month of
December myself.
Never mind. I’ll take a
break for a favorite pastime, reading the comics right here in this
very newspaper. This past week, my attention was caught by an “Arlo
& Janis” that addressed something that’s been bothering me since
forever. It’s always in the background of many a political
conversation, but I’ve never seen it laid out the way it is in the
comic strip.
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By Jimmy Johnson
November 29, 2013 |
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Janis seems to be
heading out shopping, and Arlo says, “One weekend of ginned-up
spending, mostly on things no one really needs! But if there’s not
enough spent, the economy tanks! Does that make any sense?”
Janis replies, “OK, so
what’s your solution?” and Arlo grumps, “Just because I don’t have a
solution doesn’t mean there’s not a problem!”
On one side of the
political spectrum, you have a call to “growth,” the raising of
capital for bigger, better, faster products; the exhortation to face
everything from recession to terrorist attack by spending money,
even if you have to borrow it. On the other side, you have
complaints about “consumerism/mindless consumption,” the industrial
world’s selfish purchase of unnecessary items while so many in the
world lack even the basic needs. The new pope, like others before
him, has just deplored the “idolatry of money,” while U.S. bishops
continue to speak out against budget cuts.
And as that battle
rages, only Janis and Arlo have told us that there’s no solution
and, therefore, no point in fighting. Life could be very simple if
we returned to the simple agrarian economy of our long-ago
ancestors, who enjoyed, if that is the word, full employment just
feeding themselves and providing adequate living conditions.
But we don’t want to go
back there. It was a giant step forward for mankind when there was
enough left over that men could exchange the fruits of their simple
labors with others who had begun to acquire specialized skills.
People bought surplus food, shoes, tools, things with wheels and
then things of beauty that seemed to have no purpose but our joy in
observing or playing with them.
But are we still having
fun yet? The simple marketplace in the village square has become not
only the shopping mall, but the advertising that assaults our
attention through our radios, televisions and computers, as
economists warn that if we don’t listen and respond, our economy
will stall. This means in the United States, jobs will be lost or
not created; worse things will happen in other countries.
As moralists deplore
our spending on luxury items, low-wage workers in many nations feed
their families by producing these luxury goods. I’ve had my eye on a
cerulean leather purse in a catalog of Third World goods; can’t
imagine paying $128 for a purse, but my purchase would be helpful to
those poor people in India who raise the cattle and handcraft the
purse, not to mention whatever entity in the chain of import/export
gets the bulk of my purchase price.
Arlo is right about so
many things: sometimes, there is no solution. This is no reason not
to wish a Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah and, certainly, Peace, to
men of good will.
