“I believe ... that the soul of man is immortal and will be treated with justice in another life, respecting its conduct in this.”
- Benjamin Franklin (1790)
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Prologue
In 1842, Dickens toured America, still a young republic-in-the-making.
In the weeks running up to Christmas 1843, he penned “A Christmas Carol,” inviting readers to reflect upon what matters most in our civic lives and why.
Through the Spirit of Christmas Present, Dickens points to the timeless notion of reciprocity - treating others as we desire to be treated - as the cornerstone of our civic bonds. And the measure of civic success, Dickens proposes, is the degree to which we, as individuals and community, care for those in need.
The Spirit of Christmas Future personifies Benjamin Franklin’s notion that with death comes personal accountability. It propels old Scrooge to reckoning with a lifelong fear of poverty, a terror that has undone him, alienating Scrooge from the bonds of human affection and harming all around him. The Spirit points to an ignoble grave and an unmourned death, and Scrooge begs for a second chance.
Dickens’ sweet ode to self-renewal and charity is a moveable feast, prompting readers of every generation to examine the Scrooge within. Even our producer Roger Stone is increasingly discomfited as we arrive at this final stave. And that’s precisely as Dickens intended, for Roger and the rest of us. Savoring the sweet distress of others may help the medicine go down, but facing one’s own fears is always a tough swallow.
In this final stave, tune your imagination to two improvisations:
First, see Tiny Tim as symbolic of our representative republic, and Stooge Stone having the power to determine whether the republic lives or dies.
Next, imagine Stooge Stone without his trademark Palm Beach tan and Brooks Brothers’ best, but instead a ghostly white, cloaked in black, wailing, fettered by yards of serpentine chains, all linked to empty ballot box after ballot box, symbolic of the millions upon millions of U.S. voters Stooge Stone sought to disenfranchise on Jan 6, 2020.
O.K., our stage is set.
Curtains!
*****
Last of the Spirits: The Ghost of Christmas Future
Stave 5, Act 1
The Spirit stood among the graves, and pointed down at one.
The finger pointed from the grave to Stooge, and back again.
“No, Spirit! Oh, no, no!” exclaimed Stooge.
The finger still was there
.
“Spirit!”, Stooge cried out, tight clutching at its robe.
“Hear me! I am not the man I was.”
“Well, yes, Roy Cohn was my mentor!
Yes, I giddily embraced his ruthless ways!
Yes, mindless Maralardo & I were his sole heirs! His sole administrators! Sole friends! And sole mourners!
“Why show me this, Spirit, if I am past all hope!”
“Good Spirit”, Stooge pursued, as down upon the ground he fell before it: “Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. Assure me that I may yet change these shadows as you have shown me, by an altered life!”
*****
Roy Cohn died in 1986.
Cohn, enabler supreme of Joe McCarthy’s reign of terror in America, circa 1950-53.
Mentor to star pupils Donald Trump and Roger Stone in the darkest of arts - the brutal ways of intimidating, threatening and bringing ruin on one’s political enemies.
Roy Cohn, he who transformed so many good American moms and dads of the McCarthy era into fearful forms unrecognizable as everyday Americans, PTA presidents and volunteer firemen.
Cohn, hero and role model of those two star pupils, in whom his spirit lives on.
Roy Cohn, about whom a lawyer who had known Cohn for years said: “You knew when you were in Cohn’s presence you were in the presence of pure evil.”
Cohn’s dark tomb, audaciously marked: Roy M. Cohn: Lawyer and Patriot.
Classic Cohn, still trying to control a false narrative from the grave and beyond.
Any surprise Ghostly Maralardo still wails falsely about a “stolen election”?
Pictured below: Cohn & Cohn-head pupils Stooge Stone & Ghostly Maralardo
The right of every citizen to vote in free and fair elections: Undermine that essential republican principle and we all free fall, irretrievably, into Roy Cohn’s dark underworld.
In 1950 Cohn nearly drove our republic there, let’s not let Trump and Stone do that in 2024.
Vote.
*****
The end of it?
Stave 5, Act 2
November 5, 2024
“What’s today, my fine fellow?” said Stooge.
“Today!”, replied the boy. “Why, Election Day.”
“It’s Election Day!”, said Stooge. “I haven’t missed it! The Spirits have done it all in one night”. They can do anything they want. Of course they can.”
*****
At this juncture, we do not know whether the Spirit of Election Future will bring Stooge Stone to see the light. Let us hope so.
If so, what paralyzing fear might the Spirit help Stone dispel? Although Stone feigns transparency, there is reason to think his paralyzing fear is self-protection, springing from a boyhood fear perhaps most delicately expressed as “Don’t ask, don’t tell”.
Society, as Dickens so poignantly observes, can be mercilessly cruel. Imagine, for the moment, that Stone’s pugilistic image is a cover for issues still in the closet. What a better guise than pugilist to divert attention and gain entry into the homophobic political culture of the GOP of Stone’s young adulthood. A prejudice even more deeply held and unforgiving in the GOP of the early 1970’s than that of fellow Floridian, DeSanctimonious, for whom Stone, long a LGBTQIA+ proponent, openly expresses great disdain.
Stone becomes a boxer, cultivating a tough-guy image, and throughout his career continues to embellish it, decade by decade. First, a Watergate apprentice, the fast track to becoming a full-fledged political dirty trickster. Perfect cover when the GOP message is “all hands on deck” except “folks like you”.
After the Watergate cover-up, hanging chads beckoned, and then the partnership of Manafort & Stone, proudly known as the “Torturers’ Lobbyist.” Did the image these projects burnished enable Stooge Stone to bypass the GOP’s loathsome strictures?
And the solace for conforming? Basking in the now-welcoming political culture of Nixon, Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43, and then pal Maralardo, whom fussy Stone claims to have been the very first to encourage to run for el presidente. And the most solace of all? Retreating to the always-welcoming limelight of liberal Palm Beach and Manhattan.
And for image-conscious Stooge Stone, culminating step of his trickster career? The ultimate pugilistic photo op ever - Stooge Stone and entourage of macho Proud Boys, a pugilist having his very own band of armed brothers.
But the primary sense of Stooge Stone’s closeted fear is libertine Palm Beach, where, even at age 72, Stone still loves to preen, still treasures a good tan, fancy dress, a favorite bong, Nixon-style martinis. And where our pugilist openly acknowledged having advertised for unwholesome threesomes comprising himself, his obliging bride and, reportedly, stated the advertisement, a body builder fitting rather demanding specifications. To his credit, Roger gamely acknowledged a fondness for “try-some’s.” (We are not making this up.)
Whatever the orientation, it could not have been easy trying to fit into the GOP. And why should Stone have had to keep it quiet? We know why, the GOP knows why, you know why, and the Spirits certainly know why. Decades of mean prejudice, cultural, religious and legal, still a needle-in-the-eye for private citizens acting privately. Where’s the liberty in that?
Perhaps the Spirit of Elections Past will time-travel with Stone, to more tender times, freeing Roger to recall with pride his vocal support for LGBTQIA+ causes. Perhaps such memories will free Stooge Stone, enabling him to call out pal Maralardo for shamefully bludgeoning trans armed service members, DeSanctimonious for disgracefully banning books and intimidating good Florida teachers who dare to inform Florida’s youth about what makes for a secure, authentic identity and a truly harmonious society.
Perhaps the Spirit of Election Future will elicit from Stooge Stone a heartfelt pledge to do the right thing - to come out of the closet of election denialism, cast away fears of GOP rejection, support the unfettered right to vote in free and fair elections, knowing voting is the ultimate civic power to safeguard the LBGTIA+ community against historic, invidious discrimination.
Pending this Christmas week’s arrival of the Spirits, let’s us add our own encouragement:
Come on, Roger. You, of all people, should and can do this. Be a role model.
*****
In any case, all is not lost.
For the author G. K. Chesterton reminds us that "Whether the Christmas visions would or would not convert Scrooge, they convert us."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol
Surely, we, the American electorate, will send Trump & enablers packing.
As to whether the whole bunch will face judgment, well, ultimately that’s a job for the Spirits.
******
Holiday Bonus:
A Dickens’ Glossary for New Year’s Resolutions
Staves: The oak strips (sometimes French oak) used to flavor Bourbon. (Tip of the hat to RR)
A toast to a New Year full of civic joy!
“Solitary as an oyster,” as in “Stooge was as solitary as an oyster” - reach out to others.
“Joy” - the natural emotional response on experiencing civic reciprocity.
“The spirit of Christmas Present” - the ever-present opportunity to experience the joy of our civic bonds.
“Bah, humbug!” - the retort of one turning a back to civic reciprocity.
Exception: Employ this retort freely when told today’s polls don’t point to civic joy.
“The spirit of Christmas Past” - delight in recalling moments of civic joy past.
“The spirit of Christmas Future” - know your inner Scrooge (and deal with it).
“Tiny Tim” - fellow citizens, acknowledged or overlooked, who courageously mirror civic joy for the rest of us.
Exemplary examples? Georgia election workers Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman; Mark Meadows’ aide Cassidy Hutchinson, the indomitable Liz Cheney.
“Fellow travelers to the grave” - is there a better phrase to convey the idea that the time for civic reciprocity is always now?
*****
The last picture show
Roger Stone poses with a poster of Donald Trump from 2000 in his office in Oakland Park, Fla., in 2017. (Andrew Innerarity for The Washington Post)
Vote!
*****
Here’s your morning shot of Blackjack:
https://www.defendyourvotingrights.org/play-card-game/
played with a Card Deck of 54+ Trump Enablers:
https://www.defendyourvotingrights.org/54-enablers-of-voter-suppression/