Until 12 years ago, the highly decorated seasonal conifer in the Capitol rotunda was known as a Christmas tree."" Since then, the evergreen has assumed the name ""Holiday Tree.""
On Dec. 4, the state Assembly committee on State Affairs voted 8-1 in favor of renaming the spruce of the Menominee forest ""The Wisconsin State Christmas Tree,"" leaving the full Assembly to decide whether to take action on renaming the tree.
State Rep. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, sponsored the resolution, AJR-5, to rename the tree. In the legislation, Schneider did not include a penalty for calling the tree anything other than the soon-to-be official Wisconsin State Christmas Tree. So, even if this useless legislation is enacted, people who want to call it a holiday tree will have the liberty to do so.
The question we must ask is: Who cares? Just as informally as the tree was deemed a ""Holiday Tree,"" why can't a switch be made to just call it a ""Christmas tree?"" There are not 80 anonymous donors lined up willing to give millions of dollars for the sake of preserving the name of the tree, instead, there are several government employees spending state tax dollars to rename the Christmas Tree - to ""The Wisconsin State Christmas Tree.""
Nobody calls the tree ""Holiday Tree"" without digging their tongue in cheek. No one is disillusioned enough to not understand what the tree represents, so there is no need to waste time to remind people what the tree really is: a Christmas tree. The name ""Holiday Tree"" is purely symbolic, proving the state Capitol intends the tree to celebrate the holidays of the winter season, despite separate decorations celebrating Hanukkah and Kwanzaa.
Simply put, this legislation is unnecessary, frivolous and a waste of taxpayers' money.
