I’m not one to sit and watch the Macy’s parade. If I were in New York, sure I’d go down and check it out, but sitting at home watching it on television just isn’t my style.

That said, it was great to see the parade alive and in full swing this year! The grand scale of it all, the balloons, the bands, the floats, everything about the magic and tradition of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has such a meaning to America. It harkens back to a different era.

So why is this brought up in a political column? The Macy’s Parade is a symbol, a physical manifestation of positive attitudes about America and Capitalism and a statement that we have things worth celebrating. It’s expensive.  It has no functional value – it’s not some widget that does. It is celebration for the sake of celebration.

When we look at the founding fathers, they were well-rounded men who valued humanity in that grand philosophical/religious sense.  They believed in beauty for the sake of beauty and celebrated life even in the harshest of times, times a good deal harsher than our current economic downfall.

The Founders believed in the intangible and that belief drove America to expand and advance.  Without celebration, without art, without beauty, the human spirit withers and dies, awash in a florescent haze.

That’s where liberalism takes us.

In most stories it is the “Conservative Businessmen” that catches the stereotype as being a functional, practical, cold, calculating, cultural black hole. But take a closer look at political correctness. Take a look at the “culture of compassion” that routinely ignores aesthetic in the mission to “help people.”  When a work of art is purchased by a nation, a company, or an individual, how many times have liberals said “Think of how much good that money could have done for humanitarian causes; instead it was wasted on art.”

This from the group of people so vehemently pushing government funding for arts and culture.

Hypocrisy aside, it is events like the Macy’s day parade that expand quality of life and allow people to enjoy SOMETHING. Events, celebrations, art, these things not only give life color and flavor; they give life meaning.

Without celebration, without beauty, without fun, the human spirit collapses.

In this down-economy-holiday, we are continually tempted to look to the negative. Many things won’t be as large or extravagant as in the past.  But the slow economic times will not last forever.  This is America and America Conservatism held the promise of “Hope” long before it was hijacked in the 2008 campaign.
This Christmas, take heart in the beauty that is the holiday season and see hope in every sight and symbol.  When times are hard it is our hope and vision for a brighter future that allows us to endure.  Revel in the beauty as a symbol of hope and enjoy the knowledge that America will endure as long as it keeps its sights set on tomorrow.  Enjoy the Season in all its glory.  That is what the Founders would expect!