Scrooge in the White House - mean spirit rules the land

"I wear the chain I forged in life,' replied the Ghost. 'I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it… My spirit never walked beyond our counting house -- mark me! ………Business! Mankind was my business!"
- Jacob Marley’s ghost, Charles Dickens' "Christmas Carol in Prose".

This holiday season, with resurgent Repugnicans on the loose and every historic policy forged with New Deal goodwill falling to the belligerent axe of the neo-cons, we are hard-pressed to find something to celebrate. For all appearances it seems the denizens of the far right have stolen another presidential election and their alleged opponents have rolled over like so many spineless minions of the status quo. Worse, countless numbers of so-called progressive activists, far to the left of the squishy Dems, remain dazed and confused about what to do (the ghost of Elections Past) while their adversary’s walk away with all the ill-gained power. Mankind is the business of these progressives, but they seem to be out to lunch.

Pro-democracy demonstrations and protests over the tens of thousands of voting irregularities in Ohio, Florida and elsewhere draw mere hundreds of participants across the nation, while armies of rightwing operatives toast to their dirty tricks and business-as-usual. It’s as if a gigantic dark cloud has swept over the "Land of the Free".

Let me take this opportunity to remind my fellow activists that caving in to the Repugnicans qualifies one as an enabler. The Scrooges of this world will never see the light of day if their fellow citizens allow themselves to be doormats. The character of Bob Crachet, the classic nice guy in Dickens' "Christmas Carol", would have spent the rest of his days under the boot had it not been for the "ghosts" of Scrooge’s conscience. Such ghosts do not arise from nowhere; creative forces must conjure them up. Charles Dickens, old-school liberal of the Enlightenment, knew this and in his work often chided his fellow citizens for their lack of courage in confronting the demons of selfishness and greed. Indeed, the writer held up those very traits to public scrutiny, exposing them for their shortcomings and destructiveness, making a mockery of avarice and self-indulgence. The rightwing does not have a monopoly on morals and values. In fact, their policies belie a failing of moral fortitude. Their so-called values are built on a clay foundation of selfishness and disregard for their neighbors.

Like Dickens, it is our duty as enlightened citizens to haunt the oppressors among us, to force them into seeing the light of day and the error of their ways. Not to do so, to remain the enabler, will only perpetuate the darkness. What better way to start the New Year than to haunt the Bush regime, mercilessly?