'A Christmas Carol,' with Republicans in role of Scrooge

Every Christmas millions of Americans watch the story of an overworked struggling father named Bob Cratchit. He works day and night everyday but still can’t afford to put a Christmas dinner on the table or provide health care for his son Tiny Tim, whose future is doomed to either death or deformity. Bob puts up with abuse from a calloused boss by the name of Ebenezer Scrooge because he is afraid of losing his job and not being able to provide for his family.

We like watching this story because Scrooge has an epiphany and helps Cratchit provide a special Christmas meal and health care for Tiny Tim. But as we watch the movie or read the novel, one often doesn’t pick up on the underlying issue that without strong worker protections and unions, the workplace is not a democracy. In the English society portrayed by Charles Dickens, there is no such thing. There is no strong middle class to advocate for the Bob Cratchits. There is no universal educational system to train the Bob Cratchits. It is more like a kingdom, and Bob Cratchit and the workers like him are the property of Scrooge and Marley — the aristocrats of their day.

Throughout the 7,000 years of recorded history of the world, most regular folks’ lives emulate that of Bob Cratchit: workers that work as hard as they can, but still barely manage to get by. When workers have managed to provide for their families, democracy has flourished. And without a strong middle class, democracy soon deteriorates into a corporatocracy or oligarchy — a working environment the likes of which Bob Cratchit could relate. Millions of Americans are now living Bob Cratchit lives. It hasn’t always been this way in American history.

When We the People invested (through taxes) on infrastructure and education, our economy grew. When Teddy Roosevelt and FDR promoted a level playing field for businesses while advocating job creation and education, our middle class flourished. Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt all understood that for democracy to succeed, it was necessary to have an educated middle class. If you can’t read the ballot, know enough about math to understand the economic arguments of politicians, or if you don’t know the history of our country and its laws, how can you make an intelligent decision about who should lead our country?

There are politicians who are advocating education reform through euphemistic language like “choice” where taxpayer dollars would be given to parents to pay for tuition vouchers for their children to go to private schools. This would undermine the institution of public education. Some of these same people are responsible for reducing student loan programs and Pell grants for low income students. Because of these policies, college tuition and interest loans for tuition as well as college debt have never been higher. Another example of “reform” is the No Child Left Behind Act, which outlines 37 ways for public schools to fail. When a failing school is sanctioned, under the act those schools lose funds. Schools that need the most help receive the least. No Child Left Behind by its very design makes public schools fail. The lack of funding, the vouchers for private schools, and the reduction of Pell grants for low-income students are all part of the so-called educational “reform” advocated by some politicians.

With all due respect to my friends across the political aisle, most of these politicians are from the Republican Party. In Montana, that included the candidate for governor — Rick Hill — a man who would have brought the Wisconsin disaster to Montana, and Congressman Dennis Rehberg — who claimed that Pell grants were welfare and that somehow recipients are somehow not worthy.

What about Mitt Romney, who when asked how students should pay for college said, “Just get a loan from your parents.” These folks have no idea how to improve our education system or how difficult it is for working families. We teach our students to reach for their potential; yet if Republicans would have their way, the precious funds needed to help those students achieve their potential would be diverted to private academies and charter schools that pick and choose who they want to educate. They would turn a once vibrant and vital public service into a pay to play business. A system suited for the wealthy.  

It would be a society so articulately described by Charles Dickens, one endorsed by the Ebenezer Scrooges of the world. A society that would have no educated middle class, no free and public education, no strong protections for workers and no unions to challenge the power of the wealthy elite. A society in which the Bob Cratchits of America would continue to struggle to put food on the table and provide the minimal amount of medical care they need to support their family. It would most certainly not be a democracy.

James is a resident of Eureka.