‘Tis the season and we probably have all known someone with some of the characteristics of the fictional Ebenezer Scrooge, the main character in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Dickens describes Scrooge as a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint…secret and self-contained and solitary as an oyster.” That Scrooge changed after visits from the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley, the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come to be “as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew.”
Today, we have a real Scrooge and he is the president of the United States. And it is not Christmas that he is bah-ing and humbug-ing. It is our democracy. Let us remind ourselves of what a democratic republic is. Democratic means rule by the people and a republic is the system of electing representatives of the people to govern according to an established constitution.
First, President Scrooge sees himself as a monarch, not as a representative of the people. He views himself as the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches all embodied in him. He has taken over Congressional power as well as executive power and is ruling by edict, that is, Executive Orders.
The representatives and senators in Congress that the people elected to represent them have instead become Scrooge’s minions, always at his beck and call and doing what he wants. Rounding up hard- working immigrants and deporting them to other countries without due process; okay with the minions. Blowing up boats and killing people without evidence of drug trafficking and without Congressional approval; okay with the minions. Using the Department of Justice to go after his political enemies; okay with the minions. Enriching himself and his family by using his presidential power; okay with the minions. Demanding that the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, do his bidding; okay with the minions. Demanding that the Republican-led states institute new redistricting plans prior to a new census to take away the votes of citizens and assure that he and his cohorts stay in power; okay with the minions. Demolishing part of the people’s house to have a golden ballroom without any discussion with Congress; okay with the minions. Getting rid of health care for our elderly and our vulnerable citizens; okay with the minions. Allowing our citizens who are working in low-paying jobs and depending on some government assistance to feed their children to lose that assistance; okay with the minions.
Unfortunately, instead of visits by ghosts who remind him of the value of our democracy, why Americans fought and died to get out from under a monarchy, what ‘rule by the people’ means, and what this country will be like if we keep down this road, we have weak and selfish minions who bow to his every selfish whim.
Our Scrooge-like President needs an emotional and spiritual rebirth like the one the fictional Scrooge received. We, the people, need to get rid of the minions supporting the presidential Scrooge and elect representatives who reflect the people’s will—one of thoughtfulness, universal goodwill, hope and generosity, so we can say what Tiny Tim said at the end of the story: “God bless us, everyone.”
