Since there is a tendency to define everything in society based on political ideology – let’s have fun with this question: Is Santa Claus liberal or conservative?
What do we know about Santa? We know he’s male and married to Mrs. Claus, so we presume Santa is straight. But much of what we know about Santa comes from the story, “’Twas The Night Before Christmas.”
In the story, we know Santa is a drinker and he appears to not be in very good physical shape. Santa is a big employer, but he may be guilty of human rights violations with the elves. He owns reindeer so Santa must be an animal lover, and there are no known complaints from PETA. However, the group cannot be happy that he is dressed in fur.
Santa give a lot of stuff away, which might suggest he is liberal; but he holds the children accountable for their behavior so that might imply he is conservative.
Since Santa enters homes in the middle of the night, we can conclude that he has little respect for right to privacy. Santa does encourage an entitlement mentality with many children growing up believing they are entitled to gifts under the Christmas tree. But Santa does require children following a strict moral code in order to earn the right to gifts.
There has been controversy over Santa and the 2nd Amendment. There have been gun shops across the country that have implied that Santa endorses giving guns for Christmas, and his suit is red – the color designating conservative states.
There are reasons to believe that Santa is a conservative – but there are reasons to believe he is liberal.
Since most Americans are not purely conservative or liberal - maybe the best lesson we can learn from Santa this time of year is to recognize that the specific designation of conservative or liberal is not as important as just being a good person!
Merry Christmas!