My town has a "Holiday Tree" on the small square at the bottom of Main Street. It used to be a Christmas tree, but no more, although it's still the same blinking tree, with the same blinking fibrous DNA. The transmutation took place inconspicuously over the past few years, thanks to the works of a sensitive city council. People know well that it's still the same old Christmas tree, as there is no such thing as a Hanukkah tree, or a Têt tree, or a Ramadan tree, or a Mardi Gras tree. So, why did the city council rename the tree? Well, because the word "Christmas" might offend SOME PEOPLE.

The town of Kensington in Montgomery County, Maryland, has banned Santa Claus's traditional participation in the lighting of the municipal Holiday Tree---actually a Chrismas tree. Apparently, Santa's presence made SOME PEOPLE feel excluded. One would have to explain to me why the jolly old fellow could exclude the two families that complained.

Because SOME PEOPLE might be revulsed at the sight of our national emblem, the city council of Berkeley, California, banned the display of the US flag on fire trucks in the wake of the September events. For the same reason, a Colorado public library refused to fly Old Glory. Since the start of our war against terrorism, local officials have objected to recitations of the pledge of allegiance in schools and sites of government lest such manifestations of patriotism would insult SOME PEOPLE. But wait, there is more, as in the ads for seen-only-on-TV products. The ACLU, on behalf of SOME PEOPLE, sued an elementary school that in September displayed on its marquee the phrase "God bless America." Still to spare SOME PEOPLE's sensibilities, an egg drop on a bin Laden poster at a Florida school was opposed by the local board. And on, and on.

Who are these PEOPLE? We don't really know, other than by their purported dislikes. It is reasonable to assume that anyone offended by the egg drop would be a fan of bin Laden's and our enemy. Similarly, anyone opposing the recitation of the pledge and the display of the flag would be some foreigner professing a profound antipathy for this country. As to the fuss over the phrase "God bless America," it must come either from America-haters who want to redirect God's blessings, or from godless totalitarians who cannot tolerate that others be religious.

So, all signs indicate that these PEOPLE are foreigners who profoundly dislike the US. But if they are such foreigners, why are they here and not in Sweden? Well, because they requested to be here. Now, who would request to reside in a country that they dislike? Imbeciles? And who are those who would be so outraged at the sight of the word "God"? Don't they use our currency? And if they do, are they schizophrenes?

Setting aside the likely minute numbers of pathological cases---imbeciles and schizophrenes---I think that these PEOPLE do not exist. They are the straw man of leftist social engineers bent on changing the fabric of this country. In the name of tolerance, this intolerant straw man is the instrument of multi-frontal assaults on the culture of an overwhelmingly Christian, patriotic, and tolerant majority. It is this culture, born from the best of western civilization and Christianity, which made our country so optimistic, so enterprising, so hospitable, and so successful. What irks the "progressive" reformers is that our culture is one of triumphant capitalism antithetical to their socialist utopia.

Multiculturalism is the Trojan horse of the assaults. Using warped interpretations of immigration data, multiculturalism posits that newcomers to this country want to preserve the mores of their lands of origin and have no desire to adopt American culture. Attendant propaganda bestows on anyone from any hellhole of the world a "rich cultural heritage" that prodigiously contributes to the presumably bland American culture. No one seems to see the reality that immigrants flee the very societies built on such "rich cultural heritages" because they are oppressive, or corrupt, or both. But reality has never been the forte of leftist agendas. In any case, the model of the melting pot has been replaced by that of a heterogeneous "salad," which prompted a host of reforms in education, including "bilingual" instruction, a revision of US history, its replacement with negativist indoctrination, and an exalted view of any foreign culture. With the help of the ACLU, its fellow travellers, Democrat lawmakers, and activist courts, expressions of patriotism or Christian faith are under continual attack. In truth, the reformers are trying to build an image of America that is no longer that of a nation, but that of a high-class hotel for the world, where customers and their agents bitch day in day out about the landscape, the townsfolk, their religious symbols, their traditional values, and their suspected lack of enthusiasm for the Wonder of Diversity. And political correctness wants us to defer to them. Private industry, for reasons of its own and because of government pressures, has espoused the new model. Law enforcement has become tricky. The profiling of criminals must de-emphasize race, religion, and national origin. Illegal aliens are practically assured of impunity once they have crossed our borders, as any inquiry about their status is answered with claims of racism that creative judges aided by a web of "civil rights" laws implicitly validate. This state of affairs has helped the establishment here at home of front organizations supporting terrorist groups, as well as Islamic "schools" preaching a jihad against the West. To those who still believe that all Muslims are peaceful, neighborly ingredients of the American "salad," I suggest that they see the award-winning 1994 Steven Emerson documentary "Jihad in America."

The dreadful events of September, however, have shown that the fascism of political correctness has not quite succeeded in its efforts to snuff people's deep religious and patriotic convictions. Yet, its militants are not catching on to this reality. Aaron Petitt, high-school student in Fairview Park, Ohio, was suspended for having posted on his locker a picture of planes bombing Afghanistan, and another of a bald eagle with a teary eye. The school administration found that Aaron's display would upset SOME PEOPLE. Aaron did not take the suspension sitting down. He went to court and won. He will give his $3,000 award for damages to the New York firemen fund. As to the sensitive school administrators, the judge ordered that they take instruction in constitutional law, and particularly on the topic of liberty of expression.

I almost forgot: I was told that the Colorado library that refused to fly the flag by respect for SOME PEOPLE featured an exhibit of dildoes, in spite of the protestations of offended local citizens.