Libertarian Perspective
Santa Claws Is Coming to Town
Joe Cobb
Tue, 5 Dec 2006

In this season of holiday joy and gifts, the image of Santa Claus is everywhere. The jolly old elf and his reindeer-drawn sleigh, his oversized bag of toys, and his "ho ho ho" are passed on by parents to children as part of our cultural tradition.

Since the 1930s, the U.S. government has gotten into the Santa Claus game by increasing the generosity of welfare and subsidy programs. The Congress in recent years has increased government spending to $2,654 billion, doubling the size of government during the Clinton and Bush administrations. Politicians run for re-election on the record of how much of other people's tax money they have captured for spending back home, just like 535 little Santa Claus elves cheerily making gifts to the happy voters. The Santa Claus spirit is shown by infamous spending earmarks such as the "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska and thousands of other special pork projects, and expensive new entitlements like the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

In the Santa Claus story, however, the toys and gifts he brings are made by magic, so they are free. In the real world, parents have to crowd into stores during the busy retail season and pay real money for those things. Yet, magical thinking still dominates our nation's political philosophy, at least in regard to government spending.

But the Santa Claus story should be taken seriously as an example of political reality in the United States today for other reasons, too. There are increasing examples of how our government is more closely resembling the mythical figure, and not in a good way. Santa Claus is becoming "Santa Claws."

Remember the lyrics of the famous song,

He knows when you are sleeping;
He knows when you're awake.
He knows when you've been bad or good,
So be good for goodnesssake!

In the past six years, if not for as long as memory will serve, this is now the story of our government. The idea that Americans have some constitutional rights to private property and personal freedom are becoming mere historical footnotes. "Santa Claws" has come to town, and he is gathering information about every aspect of our lives. "He knows when you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake."

The new Military Commissions law, passed earlier this year, has given the president the power to order the indefinite detention of any person, anywhere in the world—including U.S. citizens in the United States—without the right to a trial and without the historic right of habeas corpus. The president, or his officers, need only certify that one is an "enemy combatant," which is a term not defined in the law.

Of course, this power will never be used by our president for bad purposes; no, of course not. Only terrorists will be imprisoned and tortured, but environmental activists should be careful, too. Right-to-life activists who protest outside abortion clinics need to watch their step. If the military draft is established again, as Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) wants, be careful not to protest or resist the draft, as millions of Americans did in the 1970s.

The USA PATRIOT Act adopted a few years ago provides for warrantless searches of our homes and businesses, along with spying on our library records, our Internet activity, and our bank accounts. The Real ID act provides for a nationwide system of photo identification, and Congress is seriously looking at a national data bank of DNA and other biological identification measures. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that Larry Hilbel did not have the right to refuse to show identification to a police officer, even though he was not suspected of any crime.

A national computerized data bank is being set up to identify everyone who can be legally authorized to work in this country, as part of the new focus on illegal immigration. Medical records are being computerized and centralized, for greater efficiency in emergency treatment of accidents and illness. Pets are being implanted with radio frequency identification chips, and some serious proposals have been made to use these devices on children, who are at risk of abduction and abuse.

How did we manage to transform this "land of the free" into a modern totalitarian state? Perhaps we just invited Santa Claws to come to town and he "knows when we've been bad," or at least when we are thinking about the freedom we have lost.