As I was preparing myself for one of my favorite times of the year, the plethora of holiday cartoons like “Frosty the Snowman”, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” I realized that one of these animated and claymation marvels has a lot to do with my Christmas of 2008.

You see, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” exactly captures some of how I feel about what the federal government has done to my upcoming holiday. Oh, there are differences of course, but by attempting to play Santa a few years back in forcing banks to put mortgages under the trees of people who couldn’t afford them, Congress in fact began to tip the dominoes that have painted the picture we begin to see all too clearly during this holiday season.

Unlike the Grinch character in this animated masterpiece (no offense to Jim Carrey, but I’ll take the original), it was not the government’s heart that was too small. In fact, it was quite the contrary. Government’s heart seems always to be three sizes too large when it comes to handing out presents (bought with other people’s money too of course). It is government’s brain that seems to be more than a bit undersized for the job required.

Never all that bright as individuals, politicians and bureaucrats seem to become positively idiotic when gathered in larger groups, (what is the term that should be used for this: gaggle, herd?). Never all that good at managing the taxpayer’s checkbook, they sometimes seem to be hell-bent on spending us into insolvency. Never all that able to handle their own responsibilities, they can’t help but try to interfere in other peoples, usually to mutual detriment.

Why even now, when its policies have caused so much turmoil and financial damage, it’s biggest concern seems to be finding ways, people and companies to give presents to and how grand that those gifts should be.

Normally, such behavior is simply a frustration and annoyance to me, a behavior that I would like them to stop, but not one that I let impact my day-to-day life.

This year, however, they have managed to create a perfect storm in the economy in their meddling that has and will affect the way I go about my own holiday giving. Backed into a corner by these pea-brained ne’er do wells during increasingly tougher financial conditions, I will undoubtedly be reducing the size of Christmas at the Higgins clan.

There will be less generosity at all levels of present purchasing, for no better reason than I will be forced to be more responsible than my government has been. Unlike government, I have neither the ability nor the right to print more money to solve my problems.

Neither do I have the opportunity to extort money from my fellow human beings to continue my spending at former levels. Like most of my fellow Americans, I am unwilling to do what government seems far too willing to do and go into further debt.

Have no fear, Cindy Lou Who, there will still be a tree with presents, though there may be a few less of them this year. There will still be lights and ribbons, candy canes and singing (some of them my own off-key efforts). And if I can find one, there will even still be a roast beast to carve. We may not invite the Grinch to dinner this year, however. He has proved to be a less than gracious guest, a nuisance who stays too long and a pest who eats and drinks too much.

Besides, he has already managed to take more than his fair share from us already and has stolen the Christmas that we would have otherwise had.

Tim Higgins blogs at http://justblowingsmoke.blogspot.com.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 28th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Just Blowing SMoke, Opinion.
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