The Christmas season is so special for many reasons…

The Christmas season is so special for many reasons. Amid an uncertain and tumultuous political climate, it is especially encouraging to know we still have the season of giving where families and friends all get together and give each other things out of the kindness of their hearts. No strings attached, no expectations, just the giving – the holiday spirit in its truest form. 

Our elected leaders seem to have their calendars mixed up, because to them, it is always the season of giving. Whether it’s extra COVID payments in the spring of 2021 when most of the country had returned to normal, the desire to forgive billions in debt to the well-to-do and educated class, tariff rebate payments, or funding additional subsidies on already subsidized healthcare for people of all socioeconomic statuses, it’s always Christmas to Washington. 

Our elected leaders, however, are not giving out of the kindness of their hearts. They give for the transactional and cynical reason that whatever consequences obviously come from unlimited spending and interference in the free market are acceptable as long as it provides them short-term electoral success. Washington has conditioned the American people through hyper-simplified reasoning that makes the American people choose between the person who gives them stuff and the person who doesn’t. More recently, it has become a choice between the person who gives and the person who gives even more. It is now a litmus test for electoral survival: what are you willing to promise by way of unlimited and irresponsible spending? How easily are you able to sacrifice our country’s future for individual political gain?

We have entered an unfortunate cycle where no political party steadfastly stands for fiscal prudence and non-intervention. The most unfortunate part of it all, however, is that when the unlimited giving and empty promises lead to ballooning debt, loss of purpose, and terrible market outcomes, our politicians pull the wool over our eyes and tell us we need more. And so the vicious cycle spins. 

So this holiday season, be wary of the politician that promises you gifts for being a good boy or girl, because the likelihood of this misleading promise resulting in a positive outcome is about as likely as a man in a red suit magically flying to every home in the world and leaving presents in the middle of the night.