Demagogue

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times editorialized as follows:

St. Valentine was supposedly a martyred 3rd century priest, not a shill for the flower industry or a marketing genius for a certain Kansas City, Mo., greeting-card titan. Still, with all due respect to his martyrdom, we think it's high time the holiday bearing his name be abolished.

Call us hopeless romantics on this page, but we find that true love is overwhelming, irrepressible and spontaneous. Romance shouldn't be confined to a particular day; nor need it be triggered by the arrival of Feb. 14. Compulsory love is an oxymoron.

... So be a real romantic and say no to mandatory love. Show up empty-handed tonight; don't sign that card.

Now, I've never heard any Christian conservative refer to St. Valentine's Day as a "religious" holiday. And the Los Angeles Times' editorial seems to have been written tongue-in-cheek. Nonetheless, I'm half-wondering if this editorial is going to trigger someone on the Right to have a hissy fit. Because the day is named after a saint, this must mean -- a-ha! -- the liberal media is plotting to destroy a Christian holiday.

The war-on-Christmas rhetoric can be filed away until November. Into the trenches, Christian soldiers! Grab your assault rifle and take aim! It's time to defend St. Valentine's Day from this Godless, liberal attack!