Does/should a conservative Republican look at Scrooge as a man whose attitudes should be emulated? Let's analyze: 1. Scrooge was a money man. He embodied the true spirit of Capitalism: take no prisoners, it's them or you, and accumulate the most amount of wealth in the most efficient way possible, but is well known as an honest businessman with professional ethics. 2. Scrooge was thrifty. He knew the value of a Pound and avoided frivolous spending. He saved his money, apparently in a bank, since, although his actual profession was never revealed, as a banker or a money lender, he knew the value of savings. That money was then redistributed through loans to the population, encouraging civic growth. 3. He views the social aspect of Christmas to be one of materialism and unchecked welfare. The concept of "something for nothing" is against his every fibre. He apparently has nothing against the rememberance of the birth of Jesus Christ, but believes that it's spiraled into a bastardization of the true spirit of what Christ stood for. 4. Scrooge DOES give to charitable organizations: he donates funds to the local workhouses, where the poor of Victorian-era England are expected to go for housing and food, in exchange for work (although brutal, but the world is a harsh place, and you should be expected to work for your survival). He refuses to support nor give credence to organizations that simply provide food and shelter to the poor, as they are setting a poor precedent to the people that they are helping that, if you hold your hand out long enough, someone will give you what you need. 5. Regardless of his upbringing, with a neglectful father and apparently no mother, he still went on to forge himself to be a success in the business world, proving that your background and environment in youth years should not and cannot be used as an excuse for not excelling in whatever profession you choose in adult life. Those that do are simply lying to themselves and are a burden to society. In conclusion, it's clear that today's conservative should look upon Scrooge as a man with integrity and moral convictions, who believed in pulling oneself up by the bootstraps to make it in this world, and to look down upon anyone without the same drive and convictions.
