Gretchen Carlson is indignant.
Good for her.
It is all too easy to shrug one’s shoulders at the cavalier
treatment of Christmas by Washington state’s governor, Christine
Gregoire. With the spotlight switched on by Bill O’Reilly,
Americans learned Gregoire was responsible for allowing the
presence in the state’s capitol of a sign denigrating
Christianity and God, the sign not only present at one of the
most sacred holidays in Western culture but provocatively placed
next to a Christmas crèche. Among other things, the sign, created
by the atheist “Freedom from Religion Foundation,” rants in the
typical atheist bromides that, among other things in a propaganda
laundry list, “religion is but a myth and a superstition.” The
ensuing uproar sparked demands for other displays, including one
for the fake “Festivus” holiday borne of the imagination of a
Seinfeld writer.
Enter Ms. Carlson, the co-host of morning television’s Fox and
Friends alongside Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade. Seemingly
startling her colleagues with her vehemence, Carlson made plain
exactly what she thought of Gregoire’s decision to effectively
trash one of the most sacred holidays on the Christian calendar,
a holiday celebrating the birth of Christ that is also a federal
holiday. Her observations attracted attention from O’Reilly,
where she tartly observed on his show that “Jesus is taking a
back seat” at the celebration of His birth. She also revealed
that she is the granddaughter of a minister, giving her outrage
special force.
Carlson’s criticism, and the passion with which she delivered it
are right on the mark. She is but the latest to confront
eye-rolling skepticism if not outright hostility as a defender of
Christmas, joining both O’Reilly and Fox’s John Gibson (the
latter with a book, The War on Christmas: How the Liberal
Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You
Thought).
It is fascinating if not laugh-out-loud funny to hear various
quarters express outrage over the latest revelations swirling
around Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff and Illinois Governor
Rod Blagojevich. Madoff, a longtime liberal Democrat and
financial backer, and Blagojevich, the liberal Democrat from
Chicago, stand accused respectively of stealing $50 billion
(that’s “billion” with a “b”) in a massive Ponzi scheme and
trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat of President-elect Barack
Obama for personal profit. The outraged make zero connection
between these two disasters with the centrality — yes, the
sacredness- of the Judeo-Christian values that are at the heart
of the creation of America itself.
Former Judge Robert Bork once noted that “religion is essential
to the health of American culture and, perhaps, to the survival
of our democratic institutions.” Bork (who was defeated in a
bitter fight for a seat on the United States Supreme Court for
holding precisely views such as this) made this observation a
decade ago, and certainly has not been alone in doing so. Long
before Blagojevich’s profanity-laced attempt to sell the Senate
seat of the president-elect of the United States to the highest
bidder. Long before Americans, already reeling from the fallout
of Fannie Mae’s greedy power plays that imploded the US economy
along with the financial security of millions, learned the other
day of the stunning $50 billion Madoff Ponzi scheme.
One wonders if the victims of the economic implosion and Madoff’s
alleged illegal — and yes, immoral — behavior — are aware of
the Washington state controversy at all. If they make any
connection between Gretchen Carlson’s outrage and their own
shocking plight at the hands of Madoff.
The presence of that crèche in the Washington state capitol is a
sacred reminder of the morality that is the foundation of the
American idea itself. It is a morality encoded in the laws of
Washington state, laws Governor Gregoire is sworn to uphold. It
is a morality enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the
United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights, not to mention
carved in marble in one Washington, D.C. monument, memorial and
office building after another.
Gretchen Carlson’s larger point is not only plain to see for some
of us, it is also plain to see that ignoring the point of what
she has to say has very real world consequences.
The Judeo-Christian faith represented by that crèche includes
principles — and actually these principles are called
“commandments.” There are ten of them. Mr. Madoff stands accused
of violating not just federal securities laws but laws
specifically and deliberately based on one of these commandments:
“Thou shall not steal.” If this commandment is not only sacred
and deserving of stand-alone presentation on a major public
holiday in a state capitol, if it is just so much “superstition”
and “myth” as the atheists’ sign next to that crèche insists,
what did Mr. Madoff do wrong?
Media reports shriek of very angry people distraught that their
life savings have been plundered, of distraught investors
radiating out from America and going literally around the globe.
But if in fact that crèche is not sacred and is undeserving of
the respectful treatment it is not receiving from Governor
Gregoire, why all the upset? So Bernie Madoff stole lots of
money. So he may have ruined the lives of untold numbers of
people. So what? To follow the Gregoire logic, the Governor is
enforcing laws that are in fact a fraud themselves, laws based on
the superstition and myth discussed on the sign in her own state
capitol. A sign which, by its mere presence at this time of year,
implies parity with the values represented by that crèche.
Certainly we must view the fury over Governor Blagojevich in a
new light as well if we are prepared to ignore what Gretchen
Carlson is saying. So the guv tried to sell a seat in the U.S.
Senate for personal profit? Who cares? What’s to fuss? Let Blago
be Blago!
For that matter, why the all the uproar over someone else in the
news — O.J. Simpson? Sure there are people all over the country
who believe the ex-football great got away with the brutal murder
of two people, one of them his wife. It seems this contributed to
his recent conviction for trying to forcibly take back some
memorabilia he believed belonged to him. (O.J. was angry that
someone had STOLEN his stuff. Imagine that! Where did he ever get
the idea stealing was wrong?) If that crèche in Washington state
is just about superstition and myth, then O.J. (assuming he did
it, of course) has been put through the ringer for years
for…nothing. So he murdered two people. So what? Who cares? One
cares if one believes and understands that Simpson violated not
just the laws of California when he wielded that knife but a
sacred value represented by that crèche in Washington state:
“Thou shall not kill.” That’s the big deal.
Gretchen Carlson and millions of others of us — imperfect human
beings one and all — understand instinctively the connection
between the presence of that crèche as a stand-alone sacred image
celebrating a sacred holiday and the bedrock of American values
and law.
There is more than plenty of tolerance for debate and
disagreement in our society. The First Amendment — based on the
same values Carlson is defending — ensures this. Yet it is a
fact that the sacred nature represented in the presence of that
Washington crèche on the occasion of the celebration of the birth
of Christ keeps us all, atheists included, protected as much as
possible from the actions of a Bernard Madoff, a Rod Blagojevich
or an O.J. Simpson. Not to mention a Hitler or a Stalin or a
Saddam Hussein.
Ms. Carlson’s outrage was right on target. She is exactly right
to look into the cameras and call for the stand-alone display of
that crèche. She understands perfectly what it represents, and
that without the reverence and respect of those values we are all
in serious trouble. If, as Governor Gregoire maintains by her own
actions in this instance, that the values represented in this
crèche are some sort of joke or are morally relative and no big
deal, that they do not deserve to be treated with the reverence
and respect millions give them, then why does Washington state
need a governor at all?
After all, if it turns out some atheist investor in Washington
has been robbed by Mr. Madoff, the real question from the rest of
us should be: who cares?
One suspects that Gretchen Carlson knows the right answer to that
question is decidedly not “who cares?” I’ll bet her minister
grandfather would know the answer too.
So, I’ll bet, do many of the rest of us. Except, apparently, the
proponents of political liberalism such as the likes of, well,
Bernie Madoff and Governor Blagojevich.
And Governor Bag’s fellow liberal — Governor Christine Gregoire.
Dare I say it? Dare I write the words based on that crèche, words
that some so hate? What the heck.
Merry Christmas to Gretchen Carlson.
