Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah

The other day there was a news story about how the rules committee in the House of Representatives had reminded members that they were barred from wishing their constituents a Merry Christmas or Happy Hannukah. Scott Rigell, from the 2nd district in Virginia, issued a wonderful video in response to this edict in which he has his staff carrying signs with those messages on them while he is talking about what he can and cannot say. He then stops by a copy of the Constitution which is framed and hanging on his wall and discusses how he's thought about this "guidance" he has received and decided that it is not only right and proper, but constitutional as well, to look into the camera and say, "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Hannukah" to everyone in his district, the state, and the nation. It was a well thought out, humorous, and yet serious response to yet one more example of political correctness run amuck.
I feel that this country has lost its bearings and it's time to get them back. If we are in government we can't say it's a Christmas holiday, but rather a winter holiday so that we don't offend anyone? We can't have a manger scene displayed in the town square because that's a violation of the separation of church and state? What about the vast majority of people who are offended by the fact that the holiday is not called a Christmas holiday anymore, or those for whom the season is less special because the ACLU had the Menorah or the Nativity removed from the town square?  Who speaks for them? Certain forces in this country are trying to regulate even the way we think and talk about mundane things. I've even heard people suggest that we start calling "manholes" "personholes" so as not to offend women. You must call people "African Americans" because you will offend them if you call them "black." However, noboday mentions the fact that white people are routinely referred to as "white." What if white people decided they, too, wanted to be called by their ethnocentric heritage? For instance, what if I demanded to be called an "Irish-caucasian American" and if people didn't do so, I could accuse them of being racist? Wouldn't that be ridiculous? Of course it would. I also think that this kind of "branding," if you will, actually perpetuates racism, let alone the fact that only a small minority of "African Americans" are from Africa. So I've got an idea. Let's quit dividing America by referring to people as "African Americans" or "Hispanic Americans" or "Asian Americans" or the hundred other ways we refer to and divide our people. Let's just refer to each other as "Americans." Let's make it okay to say "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Hannukah" if someone is in the government. Let's make it okay to put a Nativity scene or a Menorah on the town square. Let's get the Thought Police out of our lives. And let me say this above all before I quit: Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah to everyone out there. I hope you have a wonderful holiday.