Truly Thankful

As i look around me, i see that the over-commercialization of Christmas has begun to extend into more and more places. The latest seems to be how stores are now starting to ignore Reformation Day, er, Hall0ween and Thanksgiving Day altogether.

I work at a large, thriving mall and was dismayed to see Christmas decorations hanging from the rafters in the early parts of November. I asked those around me if the mall was now hanging "Thanksgiving Stockings". It gets a chuckle each time, but the point DOES get across.

When one considers the encroachment of CommercialXmas (retailers can't be doing this in Christ's name) upon an actual National Holiday, it should, in and of itself, remind us of how far we fallen from what we used to be.

There is a delightful website, www.earlyamerica.com that provides documents of our Founding Fathers and those from that era for reading and study. On that site I found President George Washington's Proclamation of a DAY OF PUBLIC THANKSGIVING and PRAYER. Reading this document will humble you. Especially if you put it in the context of how AMerica voted this past November, it should encourage those of you who truly believe in the greatness and goodness of America.

Here is an excerpt:

"WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God"

THAT'S JUST THE OPENING PARAGRAPH!!!!!!!!

What if the ACLU had been around then???? There would be an AVALANCHE of lawsuits! (This begs for more commentary, but that will come in a later post)

Washington continues by stating that Thanksgiving Day be used "to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation"

These are not the words of a Deist. The Original "W" was a CHRISTIAN.

His final paragraph??? Well, the First President concludes the purpose of Thanksgiving Day be "that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best. "

This is why we NEED a day of Thanksgiving....to show us who we are and where we come from and to ask for guidance to get to where we need to be.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Now That the Election is Over....

Finally, it is over.

After months of campaigning, it is over.
After all the bitterness, it is over.
After all the lies and distortions by the politicians and the media, it is over.

And now, we are told that we, as a nation, need to begin a healing process.

Forgive me for my simplicity, but I didn’t know that we, as a nation, were bleeding.

For the past four years, I have had to listen to those on the Left wail and flail about at conservatives, ratcheting up their verbal attacks exponentially the closer we got to November 2, 2004. Each attack became more vapid and outlandish than the one before it.

At first, I just shrugged it off. However, it eventually became clear to me that there is an emptiness, a gnawing emptiness in the souls of those on the Left that is caused by the sight of America turning its back on what the Democratic Party has become.

We have heard reporters say ad nauseam that the country is "divided." This conjures up pictures of two groups of people, one on each bank of a river, divided by the water between them. If this is the case, then it begs the following questions:

What does all this talk of division really add up to?

Aren't reporters really just saying that they feel divided from the country they cover?

If the country is as divided as they eagerly assert, why don't the Democrats control half the branches of government?

Why did they lose, not gain, votes in Florida?

Why did Bush improve on his popular vote numbers so significantly?

The Left is acting like they speak for the people, but the people keep voting against them. They keep losing key elections. The "country-is-divided" mantra is not a journalistic report, but merely wishful thinking. It is the media's attempt to create the appearance of division so as to create division that could obstruct the progress of conservatism in the country.

The collective voice of 58 million people has spoken in favor of conservative values. It chafes the hide of reporters that the American people voted for George Bush not in spite of his faith but because of it. They work hard to conjure up a "divided" nation on moral and religious matters, but again this is more a reflection of their feelings than the country's. The American people don't have a problem with Bush's faith; the media do. The only division that exists in America is the division between the values of the media and the values of the American Majority.

By a historic majority America chose to stay the course in a new kind of war.

By a historic majority America chose traditional values over modern values.

By a historic majority America chose a man who talks TO God over a man who talks ABOUT God.

By a historic majority America chose not to be be bought by a billionaire or even five billionaires.

By a historic majority America chose the definition of Liberty put forth by our Founding Fathers, not the one put forth by John Kerry, who said "I’d like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations."

By an overwhelming historic majority America chose a future that honors life, that exhalts truth, and embraces an optimism that believes, in the words of our President, "we have a calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom. This is the everlasting dream of America."

The Voice of America spoke so loudly that even Paul Begala, liberal co-host of CNN’s "Crossfire" program said the following:

"I think that you got to give the president credit for that. He raised issues in the right way, he found those folks, he motivated them, he got them out to vote, and now's got, you know, now he has a real mandate. I spent four years saying that he wasn't fully legitimate. He's fully legitimate now. And he's got a majority of the vote in a high-turnout election. There's nothing more legitimating than that."

"They have a real majority, they have a real mandate. They have the House, they have the Senate, they have the White House, they have the Supreme Court, with perfect legitimacy."

If this is the result of division, maybe it isn’t so bad.

When Republicans lose, the media say, "Republicans need to become more liberal, more accommodating," and so on. But when Democrats lose, they say that the country is "bitterly divided" and that the Republican president has a solemn duty to adjust his agenda to the wishes of Democrats.

The media will of course demand that Bush bring more Democrats into his cabinet and make this or that compromise. Why should he listen to them? They don't represent the mainstream of the country.

If the President builds a bridge for the Liberals, will they cross it and bring true unity? Or will they stand there and say, as they did four years ago, "He’s not MY President."?

Thank you for reading. In the near future I will elaborate further on these issues.