With all the media attention focused this year on the so-called international War on Terror, the usual hysteria surrounding our own nations seasonal 'War on Christmas' has been massively underreported by the normally vigilant coterie of Christmas War Watch Elves employed by Fox News.
Yes, Ted Cruz did touch on the 'spirit' of our annual War on Christmas when he made clear that any Christian in the world who found themselves the victim of religious intolerance ought to immediately be cleared to immigrate to the United States, while such non-Christian victims of similar religious intolerance like the Syrian Muslims needed instead to find refuge in some majority Muslim country elsewhere in the world.
Left unsaid by Cruz at the time was the fate of other persecuted non-Christian faiths.
I speak, of course, of adherents of Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Confucianism, Asian Shamanism, Paganism, Zoroastrianism, Polytheism, Mazdeism, Jainism, Sikhism, Manichaeism, Daoism, and the Baha'i faith.
Knowing that the noxious Cruz has an opinion on everything, I expect him to answer this question shortly, but were I a betting man, my money would be on him telling these folks that the gates at Ellis Island were also closed to them.
In a similar vein, Donald Trump, who continues to be Cruz's bosom-buddy in the campaign to promote religious intolerance, has made crystal clear that when he's President there will be a steep price paid by any citizen/heretic amongst us who would be so perverse as to be caught wishing fellow citizens a 'happy holiday', rather than the Trump approved and mandated phrase of 'Merry Christmas'.
I can see in the coming years neighbor turning on neighbor; siblings turning in their brothers and sisters; and of course, savvy senior citizens who currently reside in nursing homes and hate their roommates, cleverly using this Trumpian public policy as a ploy to get those unwanted bunkmates removed to a Trump mandated re-education center, where tactics refined at places like Abu Grab and Gitmo prisons can be used to insure that toxic un-American phrases like 'happy holiday's' never again escape the lips of any decent American citizen.
So is Trump right when he, Cruz, and others worry that traditional Christmas is being chipped away from the rest of us by the purveyors of political correctness like President Obama and the liberal media?
For the obvious answer, I ask you only to look around your own neighborhood!
You might remember a time in the not so distance past when neighbors actually proudly displayed brightly lit Christmas trees in their living rooms; hung wreaths of holly on their front doors; and draped mistletoe from light fixtures?
Wait! They still do!
Remember when it was a rare sight not to see a home or apartment in Lowell, Tewksbury, Dracut, or Wilmington which was not decorated with outdoor lights?
It still is rare!
Remember when one could view such traditional Christmas gems as the fifteen different versions of 'A Christmas Carol', or Frank Capra's, 'It's a Wonderful Life', over and over from Thanksgiving until Christmas day on TV?
Check your TV Guide!
You still can!
And you can also still watch such other joyous holiday classics such as Frosty the Snowman; a Charlie Browns Christmas; Rudolph the Red -- Nosed Reindeer; Elf; and A Christmas Story (or Ralph gets a gun) virtually any time the mood strikes you.
And, truth be told, choosing to call these holiday classics 'seasonal specials' doesn't make them any less Christmassy!
So as 'happy holiday' becomes an equally acceptable seasonal greeting amongst the public at large during the Christmas season; as public school administrators talk about 'winter break' instead of 'Christmas break'; and as annual 'Christmas parties' are sometimes labeled 'holiday gatherings', the love of Christmas is not diminished at all, but rather expanded to include all.
That's what Trump, and Cruz, and Fox News will never get.
The fact is the inclusiveness of the holiday season enhances rather than diminishes our respect and affection for Christmas.
And to all the readers of the Sun -- Christians, Jews, Muslims, or Zoroastrians alike, (and to Donald and Ted too) -- have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday season, and a great and safe New Year!