In A Christmas Carol, Jacob Marley appears to Ebenezer Scrooge as a ghostly apparition wearing a length of chain he says he forged in life as a result of greed and a passionate disdain for his fellow human. Scrooge reminds Marley that he was an "excellent man of business". Marley wails in reply: "MANKIND WAS MY BUSINESS!!"
Dickens was writing this timeless tale in the mid 19th Century, December 19,1843 to be exact. It was the early days of the Industrial Revolution when labor was exploited and working conditions were abhorrent. Flu was epidemic and quality medical care was accessible only to the wealthy.
Well here we are, a scant 180 years later, in the early days of the Information/Technology Revolution, and lo and behold, not very much has changed. Worker productivity is up 65% over the last 40 years, while wages have increased only 17%. Yet, CEO pay has increased by 1,460% over the same period. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the rest of the 1% have amassed more wealth than they can ever hope to use or spend; and they have done so at the expense of American workers.
A Christmas Carol is the story of a single man's redemption. Jacob Marley delivers one of the most persuasive peer corrections ever imaginable, followed by a full timeline of real consequences that result from Scrooge's own decisions, both moral and financial. The Spirits who visit him, make him look at the consequences. They refuse to allow him to avert his eyes from work houses and the poverty he has inflicted as a result of his greed....even the death of young Tiny Tim. It is only because he is forced to look at those consequences in the lives of real people, that Scrooge comes to the conclusion that indeed: "MANKIND IS HIS BUSINESS!!"
The GOP are truly "excellent men of business" in the tradition of Scrooge and Marley. I hope working people in this country will see that our current President has long understood that mankind is his business, and his policies that lift up workers and grow the middle class reflect that belief.
When your peers are the likes of Morgan Griffith, George Santos, Marjorie Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert, it seems unlikely that correction will come from them. Perhaps the American people will take advantage of their right, and vote out those who only hope to grow wealthy at the expense of everyone else.
"Spirit, are these the shadows of the things that WILL be, or only of those that MIGHT be?'
Only time will tell.