Opinion: In today’s pages: Santa’s fat, Villaraigosa’s money
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Author Kerry Madden says a child’s belief in Santa Claus is essential ecstasy:
I made up my mind to teach my children to believe in Santa Claus when I was still a teenager reading Betty Smith’s novel, ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.’ I never forgot the parenting advice that Katie Nolan got from her mother, who insisted that Katie’s new baby, Francie, be taught to believe in Kris Kringle, for ‘the child must have a valuable thing which is called imagination. The child must have a secret world in which live things that never were. It is necessary that she believe.’ Katie argued that it was a bad idea because the child would learn it was a lie. The grandmother replied: ‘This is called learning the truth. It’s a good thing to learn the truth oneself. To first believe with all your heart, and then not to believe, is good too. It fattens the emotions and makes them stretch.’
Columnist Gregory Rodriguez notes that all politics is identity politics. And full-employment policy advocate Bill Drayton advises voters to look beyond promises of no new taxes.
The editorial board is disappointed that there will be no hate crimes legislation this year, and says it’s risky to allow unlimited donations to various mayoral projects. The board thinks it’s quite Scrooge-like of the British to make Santa get skinny.