Ignore conformity push

By WAYNE MADSEN
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
WASHINGTON -- Only America's Religious Right is able to find controversy where it does not exist. There is nothing more anti-Christmas than forcing American businesses and employees to say Merry Christmas. And only in consumerism-run-amok America is it important to force retail workers who make minimum wage to wish every shopper, "Merry Christmas."
Humbug to those phony Christians who think Christmas is all about minimum-wage employees uttering vapid niceties to gluttonous shoppers in mega-store foyers and checkout lanes!
If the Religious Righteous wants to demonstrate its commitment to the Christmas spirit, let it start by boycotting big-box retailers who refuse to pay their workers a living wage and family-sustainable benefits.
Grinch-like conservatives take the meaning and spirit of "merry" and "Christmas" out of "Merry Christmas" by making its use mandatory and branding those who refuse to conform as "anti-American" and "anti-Christian."
Satanic?
But hang a wreath on your home in the shape of a peace symbol as one woman recently did in Loma Linda, Colo., and the Christmas zeal soon disappears among the Religious Right. The Colorado subdivision resident was threatened with a huge fine by her homeowners association for displaying what they considered to be an "anti-American" and "Satanic" wreath. After the case was reported around the world, the crusaders for Christian subdivision covenants backed down.
Much of the phony debate about the phony "War on Christmas" is led by broadcasting right-wing inciters like Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Last year, the Catholic League, the heirs of Father Charles Coughlin, the suburban Detroit radio-ranter in the 1930s, threatened boycotts of Target, Wal-Mart, Macy's and other stores unless they put up "Merry Christmas" banners.
America' home-grown Fascists now have commandeered the term call their enemies "Islamo-fascists" and "cultural fascists."
It is all part of the neo-conservative Newspeak.
Confused? Of course you are, that is part of the right wing's program of dividing and conquering our nation. The Religious Right is combining its own jaded brand of Christianity with a perverted notion of American patriotism to create a dangerous religious-political mutation that transforms the U.S. flag, a unitary presidency, Jesus, and Christmas into right-wing political symbols.
When America's founders created the United States of America two and a half centuries ago, Christmas was not a major holiday. Only rampant commercialization turned it into the consumerist monstrosity it is today.
Like the Pledge of Allegiance and American flag lapel pins, Christmas has been co-opted by the right for their own nefarious purposes. Companies should allow their employees the latitude to say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Hannukah" or "Allahu Akbar" or "Happy Kwanzaa."
'Nation of nations'
We are after all -- and always have been -- "a nation of nations" rather than a religious state.
Meanwhile, for those who celebrate Christmas, they should have a very, merry Yuletide without the pressure to have one from a nasty group of political opportunists and rabble rousers who know nothing about the true meaning of Christmas.
Wayne Madsen is a contributing writer for the liberal Online Journal (http://www.onlinejournal.com). Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.