So on election day, 2010, I am thinking of Dickens

It's election day and this self-confessed mushyheaded college liberal is down in the dumps. Not because I see any great difference in the realities of the parties; the only real difference is in the rhetoric that is fed to the base, which is in turn converted into votes (all the politicians really care about) and then forgotten about entirely by the candidates.

If the early numbers ring true today, it will be a conservative ground-swell wherein the Republicans win back the House of Representatives and secure a vast majority of governorships across the country.  The truth is you can't say the Democrats didn't earn the loss - they did little to avoid it.

But this election felt different, didn't it?  Meaner, more angry, more ads.  The Supreme Court decision earlier in the year (Citizens United - how ironic a title is that?) striking down 100 years of law restricting campaign contributions meant an unlimited supply of money to broadcast speech that was many times wrong, rabid, and never ending.  That will leave a lasting effect on Americans, I fear.

You may remember I posted before about the Chinese Proverb "The tree long remembers what the axe soon forgets?"  Well welcome to the world of being trees in the world of political axes.  How will we ever have a strong country when the keys to power rest comfortably in the hand of division and extremism?

I sit here, drinking diet Pepsi (yes, I fell off the wagon in my despair) waiting on those whose profession is to tell a story by rattling up the hue and cry to rattle up the hue and cry.  The story tonight from the right will be that those rotten liberals have had their day.  The story from the left will be that this is what happens when you have an angry, scared, and emotionally charged electorate.  People for whom politics is sport and political wins and losses, however irrelevant they are in the real sense of the world, will be thrilled or disappointed in these wins and losses.  It is not the best of circumstances for a country that is already stuck in not the best of circumstances. 

So all of this malaise got me thinking about Dickens, who was, by all accounts, a genius on the nature of men.

In "A Christmas Carol," Charles Dickens writes of two portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold, who appear at the offices of Scrooge and Marley on Christmas Eve seeking alms for the poor.

``Scrooge and Marley's, I believe,'' said one of the gentlemen, referring to his list. ``Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr Scrooge, or Mr Marley?''

``Mr Marley has been dead these seven years,'' Scrooge replied. ``He died seven years ago, this very night.''

``We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner,'' said the gentleman, presenting his credentials.

It certainly was; for they had been two kindred spirits. At the ominous word ``liberality'', Scrooge frowned, and shook his head, and handed the credentials back.

``At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge,'' said the gentleman, taking up a pen, ``it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.''

``Are there no prisons?'' asked Scrooge.

``Plenty of prisons,'' said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

``And the Union workhouses?'' demanded Scrooge. ``Are they still in operation?''

``They are. Still,'' returned the gentleman, `` I wish I could say they were not.''

``The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?'' said Scrooge.

``Both very busy, sir.''

``Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,'' said Scrooge. ``I'm very glad to hear it.''

``Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,'' returned the gentleman, ``a few of us are endeavoring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?''

``Nothing!'' Scrooge replied.

``You wish to be anonymous?''

``I wish to be left alone,'' said Scrooge. ``Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there.''

``Many can't go there; and many would rather die.''

``If they would rather die,'' said Scrooge, ``they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides -- excuse me -- I don't know that.''

``But you might know it,'' observed the gentleman.

``It's not my business,'' Scrooge returned. ``It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen!''

Seeing clearly that it would be useless to pursue their point, the gentlemen withdrew. Scrooge resumed his labours with an improved opinion of himself, and in a more facetious temper than was usual with him....


The genius of Dickens. He coined the phrase "...a facetious temper" 150 years ago.  Can't you imagine Beck, or Coulter, or Hannity and Limbaugh smugly comfortable in their full blown "facetious temper?"

And that he foresaw "liberality" as a loathsome word to people who hold more tightly to their purse or lofty ideals than they do the condition of their fellow man, is nearly clairvoyant. Scrooge, having withstood the begging of these two portly liberals, feels a sense of righteousness. He says, essentially, "...t'were better that the poor or infirm die and thus decrease the surplus population then (he) should give alms..."

And in so saying, Dickens writes of Scrooge, he "...resumes his labors with an improved opinion of himself."

Isn't that the truth - these political victories - far removed from what actually happens in our lives - affirm us or invalidate us nonetheless.  Our party wins, we walk away with an improved opinion of ourselves; our party loses, we limp away, frustrated, disappointed, drinking diet Pepsi when we said we would swear it off.

In my mushy-headed liberal brain, I will continue to be more nephew Fred than Scrooge; more hopeful for an awakening of conscience, a return to civility, and an embrace of temperance in our dealings with our fellow countrymen.

I am reminded that Scrooge himself finds these traits after his encounter with the Ghosts.  He says, after his awakening, that "...nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset."

So let them laugh, those who would sneer at the mushyheaded college liberals and their mushyheaded attempts at making a more perfect union. Let Rush, and Hannity, and Coulter, and Savage mine this occurrence for all the money that their contempt, hatred, and indifference will provide them.

In the end, it will be civility, and temperance, and generosity of spirit that will matter.  Of that I am certain.  Until then, I'll crack open another Diet Pepsi, and perhaps have some pie.  It is going to be a long night.

Whether you voted Democratic, Republican, or third-party, I hope today and in all days you keep close in your heart the idea that our nation is only perfected by the goodwill of its people.  Thanks for coming by my blog today, and thanks for voting.

Dennis