BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

I am thankful that I never, ever have done the early shopping the night of or the morning after Thanksgiving.

Black Friday is a black mark on American capitalism in my view. For once, I am with the union workers, who said “enough is enough” to the folks who run Walmart.

No offense to my friends at Walmart, but come on people. There is plenty of time between now and Christmas for everybody to get their shopping done.

When I was a kid, I would get so excited for Christmas that I would want to peek inside any presents that might have made it under the tree. When I got to be an older kid, and figured out that Santa Claus had actually pre-positioned the presents in my parents’ closet, I ruined the surprise of the Christmas holiday by “accidentally” discovering them.

At that point, Christmas lost its magic and became a completely transactional affair.

I feel like we as a society have lost that magic and become a completely transactional nation.

We have become a nation of children who won’t wait to see how things unfold, but have to have it all now.

It is not surprising that the same day that Walmart opened its doors, political pundits started guessing who would be our next President.

Yep, there was already talk that Jeb Bush was going to throw his hat in the right for a White House run, three weeks after President Obama had won his second term.

I can already see the early season pollsters getting their engines ready.

Can the first Super Pac commercial be that far behind?

We didn’t have much breathing space between the endless political commercials and the endless Christmas shopping commercials.  Maybe a day.

Life moves so quickly because we don’t take a moment to enjoy the days in between Christmas and the next Presidential election.

We constantly want to peek inside the wrapping paper and see what Santa brought us before Christmas Day.

We should all take a collective breath and give life a chance to unfold. That may be the best way to get the magic back in Christmas and in our nation’s democracy.

Editor’s Note: John Feehery worked for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republicans in Congress. Feehery is president of Quinn Gillespie Communications. He is a contributor to The Hill’s Pundits Blog and blogs at thefeeherytheory.com.