An Apolitical Christmas Warm-Wishing to you All!

December 24th, 2010

If you work in a political field there is a great drive every holiday to shoehorn some philosophical meaning into every single one.  Labor Day, Veteran’s Day and May Day are easy, and depending on your interpretation can be anywhere from hating on labor unions to their loving and tender embrace.  Veteran’s Day might be an earnest celebration of the sacrifices of soldiers, a realpolitik way to encourage more war or a call to bringing them all home and making peace the priority.

Thanksgiving might be a celebration of productivity for a Randian, property rights for free marketeers, or “Thanks-taking” if you’re a Native American or sympathize with their historical and ongoing plights.

This perennial cycle of political opportunism is interesting, and there is certainly nothing ostensibly wrong with using the issues of the day and America’s civil culture to illustrate some larger philosophical point.  I’m just not going to this year.

I’m not going to talk about parents lying to their children about Santa Claus, or the spirit of volunteerism and giving that contrasts so strikingly with the holiday’s consumerism; I could give you all of that and more. I’m sure if you thought about the holiday for about five seconds you too could make up a bunch of interpretations of Christmas you agree with in addition to some really silly ones to ascribe to your political antagonists.

For a movement that at times can be so self-important, posting this and that on Facebook and trying to change the world, get off the computer this weekend and go be with your families.  Spend some time showing them you care and maybe go volunteer somewhere to make the world just a little bit nicer. Hang up your libertarian hat and just be for a couple days.  The government’s shenanigans will all be here when you return, I guarantee it.  They won’t miss you.

Take some time to enjoy life and your time on this weird space rock.  Take a neat little sled ride, sleep naked on a bear rug in front of a fire, spike your eggnog if that isn’t redundant: relax for a few days.  We’ll see you on the far side of the (hopefully) apolitical Christmas weekend.

Merry Christmas from Silver Underground and yours truly, Ross Kenyon.


About the Author: Ross Kenyon

Ross Kenyon is a Center for a Stateless Society Research Assistant currently living and studying in Istanbul, Turkey. He was a member of the Arizona State University Students For Liberty leadership team, and has recently started his own organization, Mutual Aid on the High Seas, devoted to sailing to impoverished communities in the Caribbean, performing humanitarian aid and promoting dialogue about liberty as an emancipatory philosophy for working people. On top of all of that, Ross will be joining us on Silver Underground as a contributor. Subscribe and follow his clever jabs and thoughtful reviews on news!