Santa Claus shouldn't be term
limited
By Gordon Garnos
AT ISSUE: While this may be the
season of love, generosity and devotion, it is also the season of
the spin. That season started when the wannabes started their
campaigns for President and other high offices and it will continue
in one form or another until at least next November when voters will
have an opportunity to put the skids to it. Doing away with term
limits in South Dakota also seems to surface about this time of year
as our legislators prepare to go to Pierre. Whether or not South
Dakota ever gets rid of term limits for its elected leaders, we
should not even consider term limiting Santa Clause.
AS WE PREPARED for Christmas this
year, I was rummaging through some old notes from my editor days.
One of those aging, yellowing pieces of paper was about a letter
written by Virginia Grinch to Paul Jacob, then the national director
of U.S. Term Limits. No, she wasn't the Virginia who questioned the
reality of Santa Clause. This Virginia insisted Santa should be term
limited because he has held the same office since the 19th century.
Plus, he stays in power by bribing pint-sized lobbyists who annually
demand free goodies, toys and, ya know, all that kind of stuff.
She wrote, "He delivers these goodies
and things by breaking and entering millions of private residences,
year after year. Even in the name of gift distribution, that is an
incredible breach of the rule of law.
"Furthermore, many elves in his workshop
have complained that Santa is arrogant in exercising his authority
and that he is even becoming excessive in his attentions toward some
of the intern elves."
Then, this Virginia had the audacity to
suggest that it is now time for Mr. Claus to give it up.
READING FROM THAT yellowed paper,
Mr. Jacobs responded that Virginia and her little friends were
wrong.
"You have been affected by the
skepticism of a skeptical age."
And while that paper is yellowed, that
age of skepticism is present to this day.
Jacobs continues, "I haven't heard these
charges about abuse of authority, but I tend to doubt them. In my
view, Santa is a very jolly, merry, all-around nice guy who does
nothing but good for everyone."
HE THEN SAID that term limits can
be beneficial even outside of government. For example, he said if
the International Olympics Committee had been term limited all
along, perhaps we could have avoided some of the scandalous behavior
that has tainted the committee's reputation in recent years.
Many churches and civic groups require a
regular rotation of officers. And the average CEO in America holds
his or her position for less than six years, though the turnover
happens for the most part without a mandatory rule.
A salesman "represents" only that
portion of the public interested in what he has to sell; if he
fails, they alone are affected. What happens then is that the
natural term limit of the market itself takes effect. If a company
begins to flounder in the marketplace, it must get better at
satisfying customers or go out of business.
THIS LEADS ME to the fact that
when term limits were going to be voted on in South Dakota, I
strongly editorialized in favor of them for our elected officials in
Pierre. I felt some were pushing their "special" interests beyond
limits. A lot of folks also felt that legislators got paid whether
they satisfied their "customers" or not. The entire citizenry
suffers from the damaging effects of endless incumbency on
governance and the electoral process itself.
We don't have to buy a certain PC nor do
we have to eat at McDonald's if we don't want to, but we all have to
live under the laws passed by our legislators.
Just like private firms, good old Santa
deals with people on a completely voluntary basis. No tax dollars
pay for the gifts Santa gives. But, in a way, he does represent us,
all of us. He represents our capacity for love, generosity and
devotion. The main job of Santa Clause is the spreading of joy and
happiness. And that should go on forever.
So, as Mr. Jacobs concluded, "No,
Virginia, Santa Clause should not be term limited."
WE AGREE wholeheartedly. I may
have to change my mind some day about supporting term limits in
Pierre, but there is no question that term limits for Santa should
never even be considered.
The Christmas season isn't just about
getting from Santa. There is a far more important event, which is
why we celebrate Christmas. Santa's job is just to assist in telling
about the importance of giving--instead of just getting....
Gordon Garnos was long-time editor of the Watertown Public Opinion and
recently retired after 39 years with that newspaper. Garnos, a
lifelong resident of South Dakota except for his military service in the
U.S. Air Force, was born and raised in Presho.
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