Too many of my fellow Americans believe in Obama Claus – the smug community-organizer elf who stuffs stockings with Obama-phones, food stamps, extended unemployment benefits, health insurance for "30 million uninsured" and other welfare state goodies.

But does Santa steal to pay for the presents he leaves? Does he pick the pockets of parents to buy toys for kids? Does he spy, harass, lie and intimidate? Does he monetize the debt by inflating the currency? Is his sleigh loaded with 7% unemployment, growing dependency, and fatherless families? Does he promote poverty, which increased 16.7% under Obama?

Does Santa vacation at posh Martha's Vineyard digs, spend more time on the links than in the workshop, and then lecture us on our obligation to the less-fortunate?

Where do the presents in Obama Claus's bag come from? Do elves in the North Pole make them, or are they extracted from the peasantry? Are the "rich" the reindeer harnessed to this Santa's sleigh? With the energy expended in pulling it, is there any left over for creating wealth and generating jobs?

The spirit of human kindness does not drive us to larceny, regimentation and destruction of the economy.

Symbols are important – cupid for love, the flag for loyalty – though the virtues they represent exist independently.

It's nice to have a merry old fellow with a twinkle in his eye to personify kindness and the urge to give – especially at a time of the year that represents sharing for so many. The warmth of the ideal penetrates even the cold and dark of the season.

Newspaperman Francis Pharcellus Church had it right in an 1897 editorial answer to little Virginia O'Hanlon. "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He lives as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist."

He lives in all of us, if we connect with him. When you put change in a Salvation Army kettle, when you donate to a food bank, when you volunteer for a charity, when you spend time with a child, when you try to sooth a troubled spirit, when you reach out to a stranger – you are Santa Claus.

This Santa can do anything – even overcome bureaucratic inanity, racial grievances and politically correct penguins.