The War on Christmas: Elvis and Antonio Gramsci

Christmas!  Think of the Elvis song, "Merry Christmas Baby!"  The lyrics go --

Merry, merry Christmas, baby 

Sure did treat me nice 

I said merry Christmas, baby 

Sure did treat me nice 

Gave me diamond rings for Christmas 

Now I'm living in paradise 

Well, I'm feeling mighty fine 

Got good music on my radio 

Well, I'm feeling mighty fine 

Got good music on my radio 

Well, I want to kiss you, baby 

While you're standing 'neath the mistletoe

I like this -- it's a bluesy song for Christmas.  Not too sentimentally sappy for my tastes.  Whatever you think of Christmas, however, it is a cheerful holiday filled with lovely songs, bright colors and lights, and reunions of family and friends.  Brotherhood.  Family traditions.  Good food.  Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and all that.  I like it a lot.

So why the leftist push to ban Christmas from the public consciousness?  The ACLU has been suing schools and other institutions for years now, to prevent them from singing or playing Christmas carols, or even saying "Merry Christmas" in the spoken or written word.  Why does the left attack Christmas?  

I suspect it goes back to the Italian Communist, Antonio Gramsci, who believed that, before Communism could be instituted in any nation, Christianity must be suppressed.  As long as it exists, people will be more loyal to religion than they will be to the state.  Christianity was too much of a competitor for the hearts and minds of people, so it had to go.

Even modern day "progressives," who may not be raging Communists, still oppose Christianity, as it interferes with their social and political goals.  Christians tend to believe that homosexuality is sinful and undesirable.  They are thus more apt to oppose leftist initiatives like gay marriage and changes to the military -- not to mention forcing employers to violate their faith by providing birth control as part of their medical insurance for employees.

Christians are also apt to see the unborn as human beings and thus oppose abortion.  The "right" to an abortion is considered a holy sacrament to the left.  It is an effective means of population control, and controlling the populace is what the left is all about.

Finally, Christianity supports the traditional, nuclear family, where anti-progressive beliefs are fostered and passed from one generation to the next.  The left hates the nuclear family.  Before man can be remade and remolded into an obedient servant for the state, the nuclear family must be ended.  

Christianity can't be abolished overnight, so  the left seeks to dilute its power over time.  They do this by substituting "Happy Holidays" for "Merry Christmas," and by banning Christmas carols, creches and manger displays in the public square; and lately, by attempts to de-Christianize the military by warning soldiers that Evangelical Christians are actually subversives or extremists.  In the U.K., the de-Christianizing also includes welcoming millions of Muslims into the country, the financing of mosques, and public pressure to avoid "offending" them by displays of crosses and other Christian symbols.  

Anyway, that's how I see it.  One of the best ways to combat the Gramscian war on Christmas is to wish everyone you meet a a Merry Christmas!  And if someone is "offended" by this?  TOUGH.

That also explains my Christmas-y blog banner, which will be up through December.