Arthur Schaper: RI Reclaims Christmas Tree
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Rhode Island has been national front-page news for less stellar subjects, like pension reforms which look to be unraveled (or unwrapped?) in the near future, following union protests and lawsuits throughout the Ocean State. General Treasurer Gina Raimondo was on the National Review’s Nice List per Michael Barone and the Naughty List with The Rolling Stone. If anyone deserves coal in their stocking, it would be a publication which lavishes celebrity status on a homegrown domestic terrorist (i.e. the Boston Bomber).
In 2011, Independent Governor Lincoln Chafee started a mini headline frenzy when he renamed the festive green which graces the Providence Statehouse “The Holiday Tree”. The uproar over Chafee’s chafing political correctness and secular pandering proved too much for local and national conservative media outlets.
Local backlash
First, there was WPRO’s John DePetro and company, who descended on the 2011 dedication with full mirth and flair. Despite the fuss raised over the controversial conservative’s latest strain of inflammatory refrains, at least DePetro had led the holly rally to put the Christmas back in Rhode Island’s Christmas tree two years ago. For that, he gets a “half-tribute” from me. The video he posted standing up to Governor Chafee, with Christmas Carols and good will toward all Rhode Islanders, warmed my heart.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTAccording to the light drama played out in DePetro’s YouTube montage, Communications Director Christine Hunsinger attempted to cover Chafee’s demotion of the winter holiday with children singing. Then DePetro obliquely compares Chafee to Italian “Duce” Benito Mussolini. Fascist exaggerations aside, the governor’s move to boycott the entire WPRO news affiliate, plus his ongoing expansion of the state into every Rhode Islander’s life and well-being, plus his growing affiliate-fascination with Obama and all things Democratic, should heighten the fears of all freedom-lovers.
The montage then displays “Look at my wonderful Godless tree.” Indeed, how can there be Christmas without the holiday’s religious underpinnings? No one can have a holiday without the holy. Besides, Rhode Island is the most Catholic state in the union.
Drowning out the staged children’s choir, DePetro and friends interjected with real Christmas cheer, breaking out with the beloved “O Christmas Tree” carol for all to hear in Providence hall.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy leaves are so unchanging;
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy leaves are so unchanging;
Not only green when summer's here,
But also when 'tis cold and drear.
O Christmas Tree! O Christmas Tree!
Thy leaves are so unchanging!
That refrain “leaves so unchanging” must have really riled Chafee, since everything about him changes, and never for the better for Rhode Island. As the children’s choir continued with “Have a Holly, Jolly, Christmas”, DePetro and his carolers clapped and cheered, then the Governor made like a Christmas tree and left the Capitol balcony.
National coverage
Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly also weighed in on Chafee’s name changing. First, he denounced atheists who claimed that public Christmas displays forced religion on Americans. What religion? Christianity, of course, yet O’Reilly countered with: “Which Christianity?” Catholicism, Lutheranism? Muslims respect Jesus, and the Founding Fathers espoused Judeo-Christian values (although many were deists who rejected the divinity of Christ). Then O’Reilly laid into Governor Chafee’s refusal to identify the state Christmas tree as such. Justifying his stance, Chafee commented: “Times are changing.”
Indeed. The Fox News contributor then teased out the real reason for the season: a secular, progressive agenda in which Christmas has no part. At least Chafee had the courage to answer some of O’Reilly’s pointed questions about the matter. Or did he? Not a chance, since the governor duffed all the responsibility to the previous administration (actually, Carcieri called it a Christmas Tree. Ho Ho Ho!). Gulping under the pressure of the No Spin Zone, Chafee admitted calling the festive shrub a Christmas tree at his home, and that everyone should celebrate this happy time of year.
Bravo! I only wish that kind of ground swelling had salvaged Christmas in my South Bay, California home. Around the same time as the Chafee-Christmas tree trials, the war on Christmas broke out in my backyard, and the results did not end so merrily. For nearly six decades, Santa Monica permitted local churches to sponsor a life-size series of Nativity scenes in Palisades Park. The Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit, and then atheists won a majority of the holiday stalls by lottery. The city decided to discontinue the Nativity displays. In 2012, church groups lost an appeal to reinstate their displays. Religious Liberty? Bah, humbug!
The Christmas tree returns
This year, Chafee put the Christmas back in the statehouse Christmas tree. Democratic-turned-Republican Bishop of Providence Thomas Tobin applauded the Governor’s common-sense decision. Now, if only the Governor and the General Assembly would spread the holiday cheer a little further. How about bearing other gifts, like a streamlined, welcoming tax structure, or comprehensive reforms of the state’s public sector collective bargaining units. Better yet, a state constitutional convention which outlines stronger separation of powers, non-partisan redistricting, and the end of the Master Lever.
Merry Christmas (that’s right, Christmas!), Rhode Islanders, and to all a good night, and a happier, brighter 2014!
Arthur Christopher Schaper is a teacher-turned-writer on topics both timeless and timely; political, cultural, and eternal. A life-long Southern California resident, Arthur currently lives in Torrance. Follow him on Twitter @ArthurCSchaper, reach him at [email protected], and read more at Schaper's Corner and As He Is, So Are We Ministries.
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