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I don’t like Christmas, but I still enjoy it

My wife said I should write this post. I have my doubts. It is sure to offend.

I don’t like Christmas. It’s not just the commercialization, the artificial cheeriness, the tinkly upbeat and lethargic downbeat tunes, the destruction of pine trees or their synthetic replacements, and the silliness of telling children that elves make their toys and a mythological Santa Claus delivers them. Those would all be good reasons to have doubts.

Nor do I mind the finer things associated with the holiday. Dinner with family, listening to Handel’s Messiah as well as Amahl and the Night Visitors, the many beautiful paintings of the Nativity, the inspiration to do good, and the celebration of human fellowship. These are all welcome, any day of the year.

What I object to is the specifically Christian aspect of Christmas. The story itself is incredible. A virgin gave birth to the son of God? That son of God was destined to die for human sins on the cross? He will return some day as the Messiah to initiate a last judgment? I suppose it is logical that people who believe such things might also invent something as unbelievable as Santa Claus and his elves, but that doesn’t make it more appealing.

You may write all this off to my being Jewish, or if you like to my being a skeptic. To me, the Messiah is as fantastical as Santa Claus. Consider what we know:

1. Our earth is just one of millions of planets throughout the universe. It is unlikely that its living inhabitants are unique. A few billion years and millions of planets will have generated the physical and chemical conditions for life elsewhere, as they did here.
2. There is no good reason for God to have chosen this particular planet to impregnate the virgin with his son. I know he can do whatever he likes, but is He just capricious? Or does He do this on every planet? Or does our God do it here and other gods do what they want on other planets?

There is a good reason why the Pope burned Giordano Bruno at the stake in Campo de’ Fiori in 1600 for preaching a multiplicity of worlds. That fact is incompatible with traditional Christian beliefs. I can imagine the hostility and violence with which our first visitors from outer space will be greeted. I can only hope they are as wise and powerful as those in “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” The 1951 version of course–one of the first films I remember.

Still, I do enjoy Christmas. It has many virtues not found in shopping malls and churches: on the day itself, less traffic, fewer emails, more quiet, an opportunity for contemplation, the invitation to be charitable, a feeling of good will towards others, and the warmth of family and friends. Whatever God or gods there may be, they have a lot of planets to play with. If there is to be any good in the world, humans will have to make it happen.

Merry Christmas miscreants! And to all a fake handout!

President Trump yesterday pardoned 15 miscreants, none of whom seem to have expressed remorse outside a courtroom, made restitution, or devoted themselves to good works. They include mass murderers, fraudsters, liars, drug traffickers, and thieves. There is nothing wrong with pardons for the deserving, but this group wouldn’t even pass muster to be considered for pardons in the usual Justice Department process. Another five people had their sentences commuted.

The President also let it be known that he favors bigger relief payments in the legislation Congress has just passed, after more than 7 months of negotiations and Republican stalling. He would like credit for advocating more than triple what is being provided, but he has intervened too late to make it happen except by a procedure known as unanimous consent. The Democrats will likely propose to use that, but at least some Republicans will object. The President’s handout proposal is a fake.

Pardons are a double-edged sword, since they make it impossible for those pardoned to refuse to testify in court proceedings on grounds of self-incrimination. Thus far, none of those pardoned would appear to be a good candidate for testifying against Trump in court. One who was, Roger Stone, got a commutation of his sentence, which doesn’t erase the conviction and enables him to “plead the fifth.”* Trump may pardon his lawyers, business associates, and family members, but only those he can rely on to lack evidence against him or he thinks are determined to defend him at all costs.

While Christmas has elicited unmerited pardons and a fake handout, the New Year will produce confirmation of the electoral outcome in Congress, where at least a few Republicans will object on January 6 to Joe Biden’s win. That will make for lots of political drama with no substantial effect while Trump’s diehards demonstrate in the streets of Washington and generate the kind of turmoil Trump predicted would happen under a Biden Administration. Trump is determined to leave office with his reputation for promoting violence and wrecking the American political system intact.

Biden is a far more credible and less volatile leader. He has already named a cabinet of worthies that is also more inclusive of minorities and women than any in the past. He will inherit a disastrous epidemic and a still far from fully recovered economy. Depending on the run-off election in Georgia January 5 his party may not control the Senate. But he is a man who respects the American political system, eschews violence, and will quietly but firmly try to restore confidence in America at home and abroad. That will be far better than the unproductive chaos of the last four years.

*PS: This changed a few hours after I posted–Trump pardoned Stone, who can therefore no longer avoid testifying based on self-incrimination in a Federal proceeding.