I think of Thanksgiving as a time to remember our blessings and from Whom they flow.
Posted on 11/26/2009 6:13:42 PM PST by HokieMom
One of the persistent American misunderstandings is that Thanksgiving is about celebrating abundance.
Norman Rockwell helped the myth along as much as anyone.
In his 1943 series, "The Four Freedoms," the famous "Freedom from Want" painting depicts a smiling grandma hoisting a bird to the table with Uncle Ed there on the left eyeing up a juicy drumstick for himself.
*break*
When Rockwell painted the happy clan, all grinning at the prospect of a big feed, America was an economically depressed nation struggling through a two-front world war. Grandma had to empty out her ration book to lay out even that humble spread.
Rockwell's inspiration for that painting and the other three in the series was a January 1941 speech by Franklin Roosevelt before the start of his third term.
The "Four Freedoms" speech laid out Roosevelt's aims for the world, not just the nation. These were the ideals he believed America should fight for once it joined the already raging war. In fact, they would become the foundation of his wife's vision for the United Nations.
The first two of Roosevelt's freedoms -- worship and speech -- were both enshrined in the First Amendment. The American government has always been obligated to protect its citizens' rights to say what they wish and believe what they like.
It gets more complicated with the second two of Roosevelt's Four Freedoms: Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear.
Nice thoughts, perhaps, but dangerous organizing principles.
Individuals can strive for unachievable goals with little risk to others. If you want to build a rocket ship to the moon in your garage, you might blow yourself up in the process, but that's your problem.
When governments get into the business of dreaming impossible dreams, things get dicey.
What if your freedom of speech is infringing on my freedom from want? If you keep organizing people to oppose the government programs that are keeping turkey on my table, our freedoms are in conflict.
History tells us which side usually wins out. The guy bleating about the repressive government gets shut up in a gulag or disappears one night.
That's why our founders were so careful to make American rights about preventing the government from doing things to you rather than requiring the government to do things for you.
Even so, we've come to believe that plenty is part of the national purpose. Each generation expects to build on the abundance of the previous one and do so without risk.
But if we look at the most important thanksgiving celebrations in American history, the pickings were even slimmer than they were for Rockwell's hungry, war-rationed clan.
The puritans in Massachusetts knew nothing but fear and want. They weren't celebrating how good things were, but rather how God would deliver them from native tribes, starvation and pox of various kinds.
When Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday 80 years before Rockwell unveiled his painting, the tide had turned in the Civil War but much awful bloodshed lay ahead. Lincoln still urged his countrymen to celebrate "the gracious gifts of the Most High God."
These were holidays that celebrated not ease and abundance, but the improbable providence that has made America the most favored nation in the world.
Today, the president and Congress are looking to create a new health insurance entitlement on the grounds that it is the government's obligation to provide freedom from fear and want.
The reason for the national uproar over the plan is that no matter how stuffed with artisanal pumpkin pie we've become, Americans understand that new freedoms usually come at the cost of the old ones.
I think of Thanksgiving as a time to remember our blessings and from Whom they flow.
Published in 1943 He nailed the American mindset. Coming out of the depression, involved in a world war, rationing, the fear of the crush of fascism and the Axis, and celebrating the individual freedom of prosperity, religion, speech and freedom itself.
Journalism sucks these days.
No, in 1943 over half the country lived on farms, and there was plenty, war notwithstanding.
This dufus writer makes the common mistake of assuming that everyone lives in an urban hive like he does.
I’m a huge Norman Rockwell fan, too. The only part of the column I liked was reminding the Obama people that we shouldn’t have the expectation of health care and entitlements simply because we are the land of plenty.
The Jewish guy down the block had held back a large can of Spam for my folks for Thanksgiving.
They invited in others to share in this marvelous bounty.
Not everybody lived on a farm in those days ~ some were busy fighting to win a war. Kind people shared with each other.
There was plenty, as soon as the government stopped forcing farmers to poor milk down the drain.
The article author is a kook.
I think there’s a fundamental misunderstanding here.
Of course, many real families had to make do on Thanksgiving with what little they had. But that only made them appreciate all the more the sight of a happy family eating an abundant meal.
Many of the Hollywood movies during the Great Depression were centered on the rich and privileged—handsome, beautiful, well dressed, nothing in the world to worry about.
Who wanted to pay a dime go to a Saturday matinee and watch a bunch of people struggling to make ends meet? No, they wanted Hollywood dreams and Rockwell dreams.
And who can blame them?
Actually, as I understand the history with the exception of rationing on gasoline, tires(rubber) and some other non-food items, most rationing had been curtailed or eliminated.
While Rockwell was a great illustrator, the author’s article was about the source material of the Four Freedoms illustration series. The article is on point about the FDR speech and the way those “freedoms” (want and fear) were not universally understood in the way the First Amendment freedoms (religion, speech) were. The First Amendment freedoms are political foundations of a representative democracy while the other two are rooted in the concept that government can do everything for its population. I’d call that socialism — how about you?
Poor milk. Sitting all alone at the school lunch cafeteria, loved by no one, hated by his teachers and parents.
Poor milk.
People derive inspiration from different sources. That’s why Norman Rockwell continues to be so popular. His work captures the best of America and human nature. As you point out, others prefer the dreck of Hollywood. We don’t a Norman Rockwell painting to be 100% accurate in every instance. Just capture a slice and lift our spirits.
Being homogenized will do that to you.
“That’s why our founders were so careful to make American rights about preventing the government from doing things to you rather than requiring the government to do things for you.”
To you, for you, blah, blah, blah.....
This is partly why I keep saying that the USofA failed to export three of its vital products. Capitalism. Entrepreneurship. And a strong Middle Class.
You look at the early days of this Country when there were about two and a half million colonists over here in 1773. And most of them were in some way “small businessmen.” There were no huge corporations. Each person knew or learned a trade if he lived in the city and he farmed and took produce to market if he lived in the Country. By 1773, the USofA had a strong Middle Class. And with a strong Middle Class comes . . . a desire to govern themselves without some King across the pond who does not know what’s going on in your neck of the woods telling you what to do and taking/taxing your money to spend it “over there” and not for improvements in your own community.
IF we had exported our Entrepreneurship and Capitalism to other Countries, to Mexico, Central and South America, to Africa and the Middle East . . . we would not be living in a time when a Hate-filled Puppet, cold eyed, stone hearted man-child long legged mac daddy was sitting in the White House thinking he was the ruler of the USofA and wanting to be the King of the Earth.
0bama has NO position in or on this great blue ball, the Earth.
Isaiah 6:1 This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be?
Acts 7:49 “’Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be?
Matthew 5:34, 35 But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.
New International Version (©1984)
Exactly and even those that lived in cities kept chickens, rabbits and other things. They knew how to survive. My mom was a little girl in St. Louis but always had plenty of food. When they needed meat they went out and killed (sent my mom ha!)a rabbit or chicken.
Now we’re so regulated with zoning ordinances in towns and cities, we can no longer keep those things. I’m surprised gardening is even allowed. Complete self reliance is thwarted at every turn in today’s society. From being able to go hunt or fish freely to being forced into accepting city wide services.
This author is obviously wet behind the ears.
Chris Stirewalt is an IDIOT!
Commentary -
Chris Stirewalt: Hillary Clinton still has the hillbilly firewall
Mar 27, 2008
But more importantly, the color of her opponent’s skin and his foreign-sounding name have reminded Appalachian party bosses of that old black-liberal Democratic coalition that almost sent them the way of their cousins in the Deep South, where Republicanism now reigns.
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