Free Republic

Senator Schumer wants to argue about tax reform at Thanksgiving dinner. And he has a handy chart for lefties to take along and wave at their more conservative relatives while screeching about the 1 percent. In an article titled, “The Case for Ruining Thanksgiving,” GQ Magazine urges its readers to punish their parents who voted for Trump by staying away, insulting them or ranting about police brutality. The Scientific American wants readers to push Global Warming over mashed potatoes. The organizers of the Women’s March want you to accuse your uncle of having “white privilege.” Desperate lefties can text Standing...

The Pilgrims (dubbed “Separatists” by the Church of England), and the Puritans who followed them, believed that the America was their spiritual destiny. Aboard the Mayflower were 102 passengers, fewer than half of whom were of Pastor John Robinson’s Separatist flock. On November 11, 1620, after a grueling two-month voyage, they dropped anchor at Cape Cod, and heeding the advice and wisdom of their pastor, the Pilgrims drafted a compact that would embody the same principles of government upon which American democracy would rest. It read: In the name of God, amen. We whose names are under-written…Having undertaken, for the...

It doesn’t take much to pick up on the dour mood of our country today. Citizens are unimpressed with political leadership, divided amongst themselves, and uncertain about America’s role in the world. In the face of these challenges, remembering the history of Thanksgiving can prove its civic value – beyond the private joys of a well-stuffed turkey, three professional football games and pre-planning for Black Friday shopping. To capture such public benefits, we should turn not just to the Pilgrims of the 1620s, but to the First Federal Thanksgiving of 1789. The American founding leadership realized that a national Thanksgiving...

The rituals we observe, the company we keep, the memories we honor—these are the things that bind a people together and give them a sense of themselves. Our public holidays make the present a link between the past and the future. They are public displays of what a people values. In America, we value gratitude. From our earliest days, Americans have taken time to give thanks and to do so publicly and together. We’ve done this since before there really was such a thing as an American. The earliest people to celebrate a day of thanks in the new world...

Given that what the Pilgrims put into motion 400 years ago remains the last best hope on earth, a shining city on a hill, we should be thankful everyday for this nation. Rather than feast on a smorgasbord of anti-American revisionism that paints every element of our history as evil, or to just glide breezily through it as day off from work to eat a lot and watch parades and football, we should take a moment to look at the historical facts for why we have Thanksgiving Day. It’s not to launch the Christmas shopping onslaught. Not to put too...

VIDEO: American Civil Rights Union Policy Board member Walter Williams explains how the Pilgrims planted the seeds of American self-sufficiency and saved the Massachusetts colony from a collectivist disaster.