Reader comments
Scrooge a conservative

I never read of Scrooge calling for coerced "charity" - which is the hallmark of a modern "liberal."

"A Christmas Carol" is a amazing allegory of English capitalism in Dickens time. The story is so well written most people miss the context the characters occupy.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only"

A writer can't hone his craft to greater perfection.

Breck!! Awesome letter. It is so true, particularly when it comes to issues of immigration. "It's their own fault, I'm not responsible for them, they're criminals, they belong in jail, send them away," etc etc. etc.
Obviously they'll all throw their heads back and howl at this comparison. But that's only because it's so accurate. The wicked taketh the truth to be hard.

Eh, that is cool Anonymous 12:39, but of course the quote you provide is not from A Christmas Carol.

Scrooge was a selfish jerk. Today, you can find selfish jerks among conservatives, moderates, and liberals. You can also find kind, generous people among all political persuasions.

Scrooge did not contribute his charity through an extremely inefficient organization, but directly to those in need.

Why would anyone want an organization that returns only a fraction of the money if ever receives to those it was "targeted" for in the first place?

Perhaps Scrooge had a change of heart but at least he didn't waste the vast majority of his money by handing it over to the Government to completely screw it up.

Actually if Scrooge had become a liberal he would've ran around London the next morning stealing from every working stiff in town in order to indulge his newfound charitable urges. Then he would've handed out the money only to people who belonged to the "right" religious, ethnic, racial and gender identification groups - which, at the time, would've excluded most of London. He would've then pocketed 30% of the money to compensate himself for his noble efforts.

A tiny little bit of research will prove to you that Liberals are charitable with everybody else's money but tend to be Scrooge-like when it comes to donating their own money. Charities would certainly vanish if not for religious conservatives.

Someone needs to study up on their Christmas Carol!

Scrooge was neither liberal or conservative. In fact he is closest to what a moderate is. In Richard Wilkins' "Carol of Redemption," it reads:

"The "Carol" taught that pursuit of lierty, without more, makes money--but not a decent society.

"Some may suppose that this economic message is all there is to the "Carol". There is more. The essential flaw of Ebenezer Scrooge--and in English society--was not that he (or it) valued economic liverty too much. Economic liberty is a good thing. But it is not the only thing. Scrooge's focus on economic liberty as the only legitimate social value resulted in his bitter isolation rather than Bob Cratchit's friendly hearth.

"America is replicating an analogous evil. We are, I fear, walking the same path as Ebenezer Scrooge. We no longer lay our offerings on the altar of economic liberty worshiped by old Ebenezer. No, our current infatuation with self-centeredness is more sophisticated: we idolize not economic efficiency, but rather autonomy and individual "rights." This modern focus on isolation and unfettered liberty, however, does little to distance us from Mr. Scrooge."

Having been associated with a lot of liberals and conservatives over the years, I have to disagree with the writer of the letter.
Scrooge was just a plain mean miser.
He was neither conservative or liberal.
A liberal will take the coat off someone else's back and give it to a needy person. All the while claiming his "love" for the both persons.
A conservative will buy a coat for the needy person, while complaining that the needy was not doing enough to help themselves.

Roland, I believe I agree with you for the first time.

I'm concerned that Dickens talks about snow in London when it doesn't snow in London anymore. Liberals will say it is global warming! But we know it is really that since the Industrial Revolution, the weather has changed naturally on its own!

Politics and charity do not mix. I have always been conservative; I used to be more charitable. I have gotten stingier not as my politics has changed but as I've discovered and become disgusted by the politicization of so many "charities," including the local United Way, the Catholic Church, and my alma mater, the U.

Study after study has revealed that conservatives are more charitable than liberals.

It snows in London. I've been there when it was. My visit, I should note, was well after the onset of the Industrial Revolution.

Great observation Breck. Know who else was a liberal, who put the old conservatives on edge? Jesus Christ.
He brought new thought and perspective on everything the conservatives believed in.
I find it ironic that most conservatives are unable to see who the ultimate liberal was:
Love your fellow men.
Take care of the poor.
Don't be greedy (its harder for a rich man to enter heaven than to pass a camel through the eye of a needle).
Don't judge others for their lifestyle (one without sin cast the first stone).
As I read scripture I realize that current conservative politics is as far from Jesus Christ as possible.

Being compassionate or giving and a conservative are not mutually exclusive. Scrooge's giving was done of his own free will and choice-done directly to those who truly needed assistance. If this story were repeated under the current political ideals of our day, Bob Cratchet and the other "have-nots" would surround Scrooge and strip him of all his wealth-and then hate him for the very reason that he left them no choice but to take it from him. Would Scrooge still be the noble "liberal" that some of you have surmised he was if that happened? I think not. He would have resented the folks like you who want something for nothing. Helping people is not the issue here...the issue is how you seek the help.

mark | 1:04 a.m We both know I quoted from "A tale of Two Cities." My point was that few writers have ever equaled Dickens in the art of crafting English. Reading "A Tale of Two Cities" so young,, we missed the obvious beauty of the opening paragraph, like most of us miss that "A Christmas Carol" was a damning commentary indeed. Great writing don't elude to it's perfection in execution like great sculpture does. Great writing is very concise and exacting. There's not a word too many and not one world too few. Great stories have rhythm in word and length. Dickens was very much a conductor, painter and choreographer.

I my humble view, is this weather, read "To Build a Fire" by Jack London. It's free on the Net. Utah is enjoying the perfect weather for this saga. Snow will never look the same to you.

Jesus NEVER taught a robin hood mentality which is STEAL from the rich and give to the poor. Conservatives as a whole GIVE more to charities than to liberals, period! Liberals take from others, give it away, and call it charity rather than theft.

Besides if Scrooge was a liberal, he would have been running around yelling "happy Holidays" at the end imstead of "Merry Christmas" because it is not PC. Stupid letter with no basis at all.

The great flaw in most of the posts here is to equate humanitarian with liberal, believing that liberals have a corner on concern for their fellow man. Such is not the case.

Christ taught that our compassion must be honest and from the heart. It must be personal. Liberals, generally, believe and enforce coerced compassion, using other people's money to further their own vision of what compassion looks like. Rarely do they open their own wallets or schedules to any degree approaching that of conservatives. They also tend to ignore the role of personal responsibility of those receiving charity in contributing to their own betterment.

I would submit that Scrooge started out as a liberal, relying on the government (debtors prisons) to solve the indigent problem. The change made him conservative and personalized his compassion. He gave of his own substance. He did not advocate higher taxes as the remedy.

Those who claim Christ was liberal miss the (conservative) personal action aspects of His teachings. He didn't say 'go avail yourselves of Caesar's wealth'. He said give of your own substance to the poor. He also required the petitioners to do something before granting them compassion and healing.

Euradud | 6:00 a.m There was a study the conservative propagandist quoted saying conservatives gave more to charities.

When you looked into the study, you found out that IRS charitable deductions were used as data. The results of the study could have reflected that conservatives were more likely to claim a deduction or to fluff their deductions.