The modern American conservative movement (which bears no resemblance whatsoever to our father’s or grandfather’s brand of conservatism) is preaching xenophobia more than usual during the holidays. Its primary focus is against President Barack Obama, who Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity have decreed is a foreignborn socialist. The person who extremists should really be foaming at the mouth about is the man who tries to forcibly control a program for radical redistribution of wealth: Santa Claus.

This awful man, who even looks like Karl Marx and unashamedly dresses in flaming red, promotes free gifts for everybody—including children who don’t contribute one red penny to the economy and refuse to even look for a job. That is welfare in its purest form. And worse yet, that is socialism. This anti-capitalism sends the wrong message to our children. And what about his name? It doesn’t even remotely sound American. Santa Claus is clearly a European Socialist, a double-whammy in the eyes of the modern American conservative movement.

Dennis Kostecki
Mammoth Lakes, Calif.