OPINION:
A version of this story appeared in the On Background newsletter from The Washington Times. Click here to receive On Background delivered directly to your inbox each Friday.
Early on, a critical part of the Bolsheviks’ attempt to change Russian culture was to attack and change the country’s traditional holidays. That should sound familiar in 2023 America.
Here in the U.S., the roadmap for leftist infiltration and transformation laid out clearly by the infamous 45 points compiled by researcher and author Cleon Skousen in the 1950s includes the following:
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion;
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history;
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture – education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
The American left seeking to remake this country knows that our holidays, both religious and secular, are an important part of our history and national identity. Holidays, at their core, aren’t about what we do but rather what they mean. Socialists and other radicals have been chipping away at our holidays through media, government and schools. Now, it is time to acknowledge this assault. It goes far beyond the war on Christmas.
Today, Thanksgiving is about colonization and abuse of Native Americans and White supremacy rather than religious liberty.
Columbus Day is about brutality and slavery rather than exploration, risk-taking and determination.
Easter is now Spring Holiday rather than a holy day commemorating the resurrection of Christ.
Independence Day has become the generic “July 4th” holiday. It now has Juneteenth as competition, a holiday the left uses not to commemorate the freeing of slaves and our slow march to a more perfect union but rather as a reminder of America’s systemic racism.
President’s Day is barely mentioned these days, aside from sales at your local car dealership. If anything, it’s become a time for left-wing teachers to remind their students that George Washington was a slave owner.
Of course, replacing Merry Christmas with Happy Holidays, first done more than a century ago to commemorate Advent and Christmas, has been used to diminish the importance of the liturgical calendar in favor of a secular one. Taking Christ out of Christmas isn’t just about consumerism but erasing mention of his birth entirely.
This effort took on a new dimension with the creation of Kwanzaa as a secular competitor to Christmas. Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by a leader of a radical paramilitary Black nationalist cult, who would spend four years in prison for torturing two naked women. This seven-day cultural festival just happens to start the day after Christmas and can overlap with Hannukah.
As a secular holiday, schools across America have free reign to discuss it in classrooms as part of cultural lessons, while Christmas and Hannukah are often relegated to increasingly non-descript decorations that are void of religiosity.
We’re not far from Father’s Day and Mother’s Day becoming too offensive to celebrate without some modifications from our socialist watchdogs.
The Left, again in an effort to confuse and disrupt, will at once suggest that there is no objective or Biblical truth but then rationalize redefining our holidays to promote more accurate truth about religion, history and culture.
I suppose we’re all fortunate that the secular left wing doesn’t realize the Catholic Church instituted our calendar in the 1500s. When they figure that out, they’ll likely propose new names for months and days of the week too, as radical French revolutionaries did in the 18th century.
The Left will tell you that this is all in the name of inclusion and even preserving Democracy.
Well, aside from the fact that we don’t live in a Democracy but a republic, wouldn’t a true Democracy accede to the wishes of the vast majority rather than foolishly attempt to make everyone happy by marginalizing their beliefs?
The diminishing of traditional holidays on our calendars with new ones, like International Human Rights Day, has nothing to do with inclusion. It has everything to do with creating social religions and degrading patriotism.
Talk to your children about the importance of holidays.
They’re not just an excuse to get a day off or spend money. They have real meaning that connects us to our history and to each other. Our traditional religious and secular holidays make us stronger. They are times to come together, have fun, and count our blessings.
It is for that reason, and that reason only, that they terrify the radical left.
It would be a great gift this Christmas season to teach our younger generation that celebrating our traditional holidays all year is a service to both God and our country.
• Tom Basile is the host of “America Right Now” on Newsmax and the author of “Tough Sell: Fighting the Media War in Iraq.”
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