Coal for the Poor, Tax Cuts for the Rich : Christmas ’94 is dampened by a mood of meanness, of triumphal Grinch conservatism.

‘Twas the election before Christmas, and all through the House, not a liberal was stirring, not even a mouse. While the Clintons tossed in their beds, dreaming of Whitewater, who should appear in the Capitol but the Grinch.

“I’ve got a mandate from the American people,” quoth the Grinch, waving a 10-point Christmas list he called a “contract with America.”

In the stockings of the rich, he slipped a tax cut. In the stockings of poor children, he stuffed lumps of coal.

The stand-in St. Nick, a former history professor, then proceeded to lecture on the virtues of Grinch Republicanism. In the world according to Newt, Scrooge would be pilloried as a Benedict Arnold for betraying the rich. Tiny Tim would be dispatched to an orphanage. And baby Jesus wouldn’t qualify for welfare because his teen-age mother couldn’t document his paternity.

The spirit of Christmas ’94 is dampened by a mood of meanness, of triumphal Grinchism, across the land. And here in California it has gone one step further with the passage of a popular edict that would deny an undocumented immigrant Maria a manger in which to give birth.

Grinch conservatism is based on the radical notion that punishing the poor will prod them to do what is right. Right, of course, is defined by economic interests--that is, those with money. Fear is the means by which the powerful motivate the powerless to act in the interests of the rich.

According to Grinch economics, market incentives induce people to consume; tax incentives motivate them to produce. If we want poor people to stop reproducing, provide a disincentive to government dependency--cut off welfare, in other words. Replacing welfare with orphanages combines the carrot of market incentives with the stick of fear.

Interestingly enough, conservatives say they believe in freedom and oppose tyranny. But incentives are just authoritarianism at a discount. Saving money is a new and improved method of saving souls. Grinch Republicans are selling tax breaks the way corrupt priests once sold indulgences to guarantee passage to heaven.

Over the next five years, the “contract with America” would grab at least $40 billion from the plates of the poorest Americans, from children to the disabled and elderly--and dole out billions more, in the form of tax benefits, to stock market investors. It would eliminate all forms of assistance for legal immigrants and give the states this money to build orphanages, adoption centers and group homes.

Not to be outdone, President Clinton has offered middle-class Americans a $60-billion tax cut. Sounds like a lot of money, but it comes down to a $500-per-child tax credit for families earning up to $75,000. At Toys R Us, $500 gets you an Atari Jaguar and a Barbie Jeep.

The Santacrats hope to spur the economy--and boost Clinton’s popularity--by giving middle-class Americans some tax relief. (And Republicans have promised a $500-per-child tax credit for families with incomes up to $200,000.) But, except for California, the U.S. economy is already booming, and the Federal Reserve is busy raising interest rates to brake economic growth. Middle-class homeowners with flexible-rate mortgages, and the citizens of hapless Orange County (which loses $300 million each time interest rates rise one point), would certainly prefer low interest rates to a trivial tax cut.

In the complex budget battle ahead, Americans face rather simple choices: Will investment Scrooges send today’s Tiny Tims to orphanages in order to lower their capital gains tax? Are middle-class parents ready to sacrifice poor children for a Barbie Jeep? Is a tax cut worth saddling our children with a deficit of more than $200 billion?

It’s easy to blame politicians for heartless deeds. But it’s disturbing to admit that the Grinch is in our hearts--a reflection of what we have become.

The literature of Christmas, from Charles Dickens to Dr. Seuss, is a timeless reminder of the temptation of greed and the urgency of need. ‘Tis the season to rekindle the spirit of generosity, so deeply embedded in American tradition, that is the real alternative to meanness.

Let’s steal Christmas back from the Grinch.