![\"An](\"http:\/\/www.tomgrimshaw.com\/tomsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/An_American_Christmas_Carol-234x300.png\")
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by Lee Steinhauer, Townhall<\/p>\n
It was Christmas Eve, and Uncle Sam was in a humbug mood and feeling altogether like a Scrooge.<\/p>\n
Day and night, he heard complaints about how the food and home prices were too high and \u201cThe People\u201d were barely scraping by.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo ask the free market!\u201d he responded with a harrumph.<\/p>\n
Besides, he had nothing to spare, what with all those expensive foreign wars draining his coffers and the multitudes clamoring at his borders.<\/p>\n
And for those too lazy to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, well, if they were going to expire, best hurry up and do it, and decrease the surplus population for the sake of the environment.<\/p>\n
But that night, something peculiar happened, something terrifying and wonderful at the same time.<\/p>\n
At first, he thought himself dreaming or that perhaps he had accidentally imbibed an unknown mixture while in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
For before him was the ghostly presence of his long-dead partner, Washington.<\/p>\n
Not mind you, that place that haunted him daily, but the hallowed personage from whom it derived its name and which it had done so much lately to sully.<\/p>\n
It was the great General himself, a white wig and all, standing, or rather floating, now at his bedside.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeorge, is that really you?\u201d Sam replied, scarcely trusting his eyes, and then seeing his old friend was burdened by a ponderous iron chain that seemed to go on for miles, added, \u201cAnd what the Dickens are you carrying?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour debt,\u201d the Founding Father answered coldly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy debt?\u201d said Sam, thinking he had large enough ones already; the last thing he needed was another.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach link,\u201d continued Washington, \u201cforged from the obligations owed to those Patriots who built our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are you here?\u201d asked Sam.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo warn you,\u201d said Washington. \u201cTonight, you will be visited by three ghosts. Take heed of them, or these debts shall never be satisfied. Expect the first at the chime of the clock,\u201d and with that, Washington departed.<\/p>\n
As promised (for Washington never lied), the clock chimed, and the first ghost arrived.<\/p>\n
The spirit was familiar to Sam again, and he knew him right away\u2014 \u201cJefferson!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI am the Ghost of America\u2019s Past,\u201d said the Pen of the Revolution, holding his famous quill, \u201cCome, there is precious time to waste.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suddenly, as if by Christmas magic, they were transported to another time and place.<\/p>\n
Sam found himself standing alongside the Father of Independence just as his famous Declaration was being signed, with many past friends there too, as if all were still alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdams! Franklin!\u201d Sam exclaimed, but they could not hear him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are shadows of what was,\u201d explained the ghostly Sage of Monticello, \u201cthey cannot see or hear us any more than we may affect them.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he watched, Sam felt again the promise of the miraculous new nation being born, fashioned by an unlikely rebel band of farmers and shopkeepers.<\/p>\n
Then, however, the scene faded and, in a blink, came a rapid succession of others.<\/p>\n
Sam saw the infant nation grow quickly as The People forged bravely ahead with their Manifest Destiny and spread across the vast continent, pioneers taming a vast wilderness.<\/p>\n
And there was a younger, more vigorous Sam pitching in!<\/p>\n
Towns and communities bursting with civic pride soon sprouted all over the country with good homes filled with strong, vibrant American families flying Old Glory proudly.<\/p>\n
How refreshing, thought Sam, to see such patriotism again.<\/p>\n
From humble beginnings, the nation grew to become the envy of the world, with modernity and prosperity Made in America.<\/p>\n
A gleam of pride twinkled in Sam\u2019s eye, of the kind he had not known for some time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe built something truly wonderful,\u201d he remarked to Jefferson, adding, as if to himself, \u201cwhere did it go?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam then glimpsed an older version of himself and a fatter one, not of his current girth certainly, but well along the path.<\/p>\n
Many recognizable Men of Business were with him, and they toasted Sam while stuffing fistfuls of money into his pockets and then placed papers before him, which he eagerly signed.<\/p>\n
\u201cCheap labor,\u201d said one, handing Sam a Bill as he stuffed dollars into his overflowing pockets.<\/p>\n
\u201cFree trade,\u201d whispered yet another, doing the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Business of America is Business!\u201d Sam heard himself proclaim to raucous cheers from the congregated Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n
Jefferson shook his head and responded, \u201cWhat of The People? Are they not our Business, too?\u201d<\/p>\n
Before Sam could respond, he awoke with a startle and, thinking momentarily that perhaps the nightmare was over, when the clock chimed again, and the second ghost entered.<\/p>\n
This spirit was jolly and full, with a broad chest and a hardy constitution, and in his hand was a big wooden stick.<\/p>\n
Like the last, Sam recognized him instantly, \u201cTeddy!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBully!\u201d boomed the reply, \u201cI am the Ghost of America\u2019s Present,\u201d and flashing a toothy Rooseveltian grin\u2014 \u201cWe must be off!\u201d<\/p>\n
This time, Sam was transported to a part of the country that, at first, he did not recognize, for it was a forlorn and destitute place forgotten by many.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are we?\u201d asked Sam.<\/p>\n
\u201cSurely, you know it?\u201d said Teddy, \u201cLook closely!\u201d<\/p>\n
As Sam gazed at the crumbling streets and derelict buildings, the abandoned steel mill standing like a grim memorial, and through the despair hanging in the air, he suddenly remembered.<\/p>\n
It was one of those proud American towns Jefferson had shown him earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened here?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t you know?\u201d said Teddy. \u201cYou signed the laws, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n
A pit welled up in Sam\u2019s stomach.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome see what has become of this place and its people,\u201d said Teddy.<\/p>\n
After traveling through rows of once happy homes now marked for foreclosure, they came upon one flying an American flag in the yard and Christmas cheer displayed upon the windowsill.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho lives here?\u201d asked Sam.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s go see,\u201d said Teddy.<\/p>\n
When they entered, they found a family of four sitting around a small table preparing to eat Christmas dinner: a father, a mother, a young boy, and a teenage girl.<\/p>\n
The house was threadbare, with most of its belongings appearing cheaply made by foreign hands\u2014including the Christmas tree and the few presents beneath.<\/p>\n
Sam noticed a picture hanging on the wall of the father adorned in military uniform.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe served us,\u201d said Sam.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonorably, like his father and his before him,\u201d said Teddy.<\/p>\n
Sam suddenly felt the weight of Washington\u2019s chains heavily upon his back.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLaid off,\u201d said Teddy. \u201cWhen the plant where he toiled for years was looted by Private Equity and sold off for parts, leaving him with nary a shred of dignity and grim prospects.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the counter, Sam saw a stack of overdue bills.<\/p>\n
The mother, wearing a work uniform emblazoned with the logo of an eponymous big box store, parceled the family\u2019s meager meal onto her children\u2019s plates, including a rather unappetizing ham that looked like it was concocted in a lab.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is wearing her work clothes,\u201d noted Sam.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has to work tonight,\u201d said Teddy, \u201cher second job of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s Christmas!\u201d exclaimed Sam.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo,\u201d said Teddy, \u201ccorporate profits must be made! And if she will not, then she will lose her situation to another. After all, no shortage of cheap labor for those paltry wages, thanks to you!\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam frowned deeply.<\/p>\n
The father stood then, bowed his head, and led the family in prayer, and Sam joined in as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd God bless America!\u201d finished his son cheerfully, and his father beamed with pride.<\/p>\n
But suddenly, the boy, who appeared quite sickly, was overtaken by a coughing fit, and his mother rushed to his side.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs he ok?\u201d asked Sam.<\/p>\n
Teddy shook his head. \u201cAfflicted by an awful illness caused by corporate malfeasance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe doctors are treating him, though?\u201d asked Sam hopefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe family cannot afford the care he desperately needs, and the company that caused his malady got off Scot free, thanks to your laws,\u201d said Teddy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not right,\u201d whispered Sam.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you care!\u201d boomed Teddy. \u201cIf the boy is to expire, best hurry and do it, along with the rest of this poor American family,\u201d and parroting Sam\u2019s words back at him, \u201cand decrease the surplus population.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not what I want!\u201d Sam replied angrily.<\/p>\n
\u201cYet it is what you have wrought,\u201d Teddy responded.<\/p>\n
Abruptly, the scene faded from view, and the spirit, too.<\/p>\n
Sam found himself in a dark, dreary expanse, with a tall, gangly figure standing grimly beside him, with a distinctive black top hat, and dressed all in black like an undertaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ghost of America Yet to Come, I surmise,\u201d said Sam to The Great Emancipator.<\/p>\n
The ghost said nothing but simply pointed a long, thin finger towards the darkness ahead.<\/p>\n
They came to a graveyard, in the middle of which stood a single tombstone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho lies there?\u201d asked Sam, afraid of the answer.<\/p>\n
The figure only pointed again.<\/p>\n
The United States of America, the grave read.<\/p>\n
Sam shrieked in horror.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt cannot be! It must not! Please, I\u2019ll fix it! I promise!\u201d Sam swore in the darkness. \u201cGrant me the chance to alter this course\u2014I beg you!\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam awoke to find that it was Christmas morning and, rushing to look outside, saw his nation still alive.<\/p>\n
He rejoiced, for Fate had not yet been sealed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is still time yet,\u201d he thought, \u201cto set America right.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Lee Steinhauer, Townhall It was Christmas Eve, and Uncle Sam was in a humbug mood and feeling altogether like a Scrooge. Day and night, he heard complaints about how the food and home prices were too high and \u201cThe People\u201d were barely scraping by. \u201cGo ask the free market!\u201d he responded with a harrumph. … <\/p>\n