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The Nation's Pulse
Giving Thanks
The Abraham Lincoln you won’t hear invoked as the first Barack Obama.
We arrive once again at the time of year when our ancestors gave thanks to God for the innumerable blessings he has bestowed on our beloved country. But as time goes on, the thanks, if any, goes more and more to humans and worse yet, to a government that promises to care for its citizens from cradle to grave.
The new leader of that government will be Barack Obama, and given the frequency with which our president-elect is compared to Abraham Lincoln — father of the GOP — I thought it might be a good time to recall the words of President Lincoln and see how many, if any, of his sentiments in his proclamation of the Thanksgiving national holiday still ring true today.
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. This simple and beautiful notion would, of course, today be labeled as just so much sentimental hooey by modern alarmists. Our fruitful fields are maintained by downtrodden, exploited, migrant workers and, infested as they are by noxious fumes like human breath, our skies will one day bring death and destruction via global warming.
[T]hese bounties are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone
to forget the source from which they come. Truer words were
never spoken in this age of relativism. Pagan worship of the
Earth goddess Gaia aside, there has never been a time in our
history when Americans have been more insensible to the role of
God in our lives; given the constant drumbeat of those who
distort the First Amendment’s protection of religious freedom.
Not only, we are told, is there a wall between church and state,
but today, there must also be one between church and public
life.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of
peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the
plow, the shuttle, or the ship: Not according to our friends
on the left. To hear them tell it, the War in Iraq not only has
nothing to do with our national defense, but does a day go by in
liberal-land when we are not told that the War costs $175 million
or more per day? Or that the poor are suffering as a consequence?
Such concern with “wasteful” spending would be heartening if this
phenomenon didn’t occur only during Republican administrations.
Sadly, the cost of our national defense is always too high for
liberals.
[T]he mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals,
have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Poor Mr.
Lincoln would be howled off of his lectern had he dared utter
these words today, especially in a spirit of thanksgiving. The
backwoods boob would quickly be
informed that coal mining produces “significant emissions of
carbon dioxide and methane, which are greenhouse gases that
contribute to global warming and climate change. Coal burning and
mining also cause several other kinds of air and water pollution,
creating serious health and environmental risks.”
Population has steadily increased…and the country, rejoicing in
the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted
to expect continuance of years with a large increase of
freedom. The last few years have witnessed a baby boomlet
which in 2006 saw the most births in any year since 1961. This
should be a cause of thanksgiving, as propounded by Lincoln,
right? Wrong. As evidenced by the vitriol directed At Sarah Palin
for giving birth to a special needs child, having more babies is
an anathema to “progressive” Americans. The AP explains
the tragedy of the boomlet: “Experts believe there is a mix of
reasons: a decline in contraceptive use, a drop in access to
abortion, poor education and poverty.”
As for a large increase in freedom, it is those on the right who would get down on their knees in thanks every hour if any encroachment was made on the expansion of the nanny state. As for those on the left, one wonders what the Obama-as-Lincoln crowd would have thought about Honest Abe’s suspension of habeas corpus rights during the Civil War.
No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand
worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts
of the most high God: Now this would be news to many Americans
who voted for Barack Obama.
And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions
justly due to him for such singular deliverances and blessings,
they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness
and disobedience…fervently implore the interposition of the
almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore
it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the
full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union. It
is difficult for people to do penance when they do not detect any
national perversity in our culture and it’s even harder for them
to peer back into our history to understand that this nation was
founded on principles consistent with the Divine purposes.
I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the
United States…to set apart and observe the last Thursday of
November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our
beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. Now we do set
apart and observe the last Thursday of November; mostly as a
starting point toward the other holiday that has been stripped of
its religious significance. But for many of us, Thanksgiving Day
is and always will be a chance for our nation to thank God for
the many blessings he has granted us; and specifically, that he
made us Americans.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (21) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Lisa Fabrizio
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http://spectator.org/archives/2008/11/26/giving-thanks
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Jason | 11.26.08 @ 6:39AM
Common sense has changed little, but public attitudes have changed much.
http://rightklik.blogspot.com/
Alan Brooks| 11.26.08 @ 1:26PM
Our drift from the patrimony hit its stride about exactly a hundred years after Abe's death, in 1965.
As I pointed out in a reply to a Thanksgiving column today, the rot set in during WWII and after '56 built up to the 'Is God Dead?' magazine cover of a decade later. Since the '70s we've gone downhill or at least have gone absolutely nowhere. We haven't moved one inch as a nation towards virtue since the 'Is God Dead?' magazine of '66.
Having children is good, necessary of course. However there's a difference between Sarah Palin having a baby, and a woman in a tenement having a baby she cannot take care of.
And here we are in obvious huge moral trouble: you want a rolled-back welfare state, but in a whatever-feels-good society women are encouraged to be Themselves, even if being themselves means having babies they aren't equipped to care for--
be careful what you wish for, you just might Find Yourself.
Jeremiah| 11.26.08 @ 3:22PM
Ms Fabrizio,
Perhaps someone can explain to me why conservatives are wont so gleefully to remind us that Lincoln "suspended habeas corpus."
Is it because you're still interested in finding a defense for Bush attempting the same thing?
Because that won't wash. The Constitution gives that power to the president in times of insurrection or invasion. We have faced neither during Bush's tenure, thank God.
Perhaps you should also point out that Lincoln was not very happy to have to suspend the Writ, and he reported to Congress as soon as they were back in session that he had done so.
Alan Brooks| 11.26.08 @ 3:52PM
"We have faced neither during Bush's tenure..."
How come? Might we thank Bush as well as God?
Bush "attempted" to suspend habeas corpus?: how serious and grave was --not is, but was-- that?
Was the infiltration of al Qaeda into the US an invasion or an incursion? Was 9-11 an invasion or incursion? Was Pearl Harbor an invasion or incursion?
Monday morning common-taters are so confident in their analyses.
Quartermaster| 11.26.08 @ 8:09PM
The drift hit its stride as a direct result of Lincoln. He founded the unitary federal state that led to the New Deal, then the Great Society, and all the leftists rubbish we have endured since. Without Lincoln, none of it would have been possible.
His speechifying made for nice rhetoric and poetry. Too bad so little of it was sincere or accurate.
Patrick M. | 11.26.08 @ 10:14PM
"He founded the unitary federal state that led to the New Deal, then the Great Society"
Really. And yet for 50 years after Lincoln's Presidency, the Federal Government remained a 'unitary' tiny limited government: The Federal budget was under 3% of GDP, and the Federal income tax, Federal reserve, FDA, FBI, let alone Social Security or New Deal farm programs were not in existence.
Attributing the New Deal to Lincoln's precedent, when his real actions were merely to save the Union, free the slaves, and homestead the interior, is absurd. History is forever a chain of events, and it is wrong to overfocus on one distant link in the chain while ignoring proximate causes. Maybe the the main actors behind the New Deal and Great Society were FDR and LBJ and not somebody 50 to 100 years prior!
Daphne Kenward| 11.26.08 @ 10:46PM
I hear hard up locals in the Bronx can't afford a Turkey this Holiday, I am wondering if it's Political Correctness gone mad, and people are being forced to diet.
Perhaps people in the area should shair a meal with those less fortunate than our selves.
Alan Brooks| 11.26.08 @ 11:05PM
What tipped me totally against the Confederacy was realizing their constant claim to only want to be left alone was worse than any Northern propaganda.
The Confederacy wanted to expand to regions west, northwest, not be left alone! No rhetoric can hide that.
UP with Lincoln, down with rebels.
RetAF| 11.27.08 @ 9:41AM
Jeremiah
Lincoln also arrested the Maryland state representatives so that they couldn't vote for secession. He issued an arrest warrant for Supreme Court Justine Taney after a ruling which interfered with prosecution of the war. He did unconstitutional things in order to preserve the Union and now is rightly regarded as a hero.
Conservative aren't "gleefully" pointing out this historical fact to justify anything, because Bush HASN'T suspended habeus corpus for terrorists. Habeus corpus doesn't apply to detained combatants.
Try another non-sequitur
Daphne Kenward| 11.27.08 @ 2:08PM
The thing about the Palin thing, daughter Pregnant underage, and all that, well my take on it it shows who she is, I think leading by example is critical for bringing up children, and there is nothing in the world anyone can tell me that would make me change my mind.
Lack of morality, is what is killing our world today. When you bring little ones into the world we have a responsibility to looking after their wealfare, and if we can't look after our selves it means we will do a poor job, morally and economically. That kind of dicipline needs to be the main focus of family life, it's the foundation of civilization, the idea that drugs alcohol, teenage pregnancies is acceptable is the wrong signal.
For example, because you cannot look after your kids, you can dump them somewhere, it the wrong attitude, people condem abortion, but yet the ones who condems it would not take in 100 unwanted kids each year to look after, my own opinion is, if people have no home in which to raise a family they should not be producing kids, children needs stability, a good foundation, and good upbringing.
There are too many fools having children because they can. We all need to go back to god moral values, lead by example control what your children is exposed to, on TV radio and magazines. I feel that children should be exposed to education at a younger age, and shown love care and attention, by one or both parents. When a child has no love, they grow up lacking the ablility to express warmth and tenderness, they become violent and uncontrolable. This is such a big subject.
I really don't think abortion in America shopuld be the issue, it should be more about at what point is an abortion possible, like 3 weeks 4 as a max. No more unless it poses a risk to the mother. I strongly think prevention is better than cure, good education on family planning is what is needed in American society.
Poor families producing kids and living on food stamps is mad, what kind of life is that for anyone.
I just imagine, a daughter coming home at 15-16 saying I am pregnant, god how did that happen? What have I done wrong, I would doubt myself as a parent.
Brent| 11.27.08 @ 6:22PM
History proved Lincoln RIGHT
Prase be to GOD
Ms. Know| 11.29.08 @ 2:57PM
Someone needs to inform the liberal illuminati that reading one's work doesn't make you equipped to lead.
Travis| 11.30.08 @ 8:32PM
The author decries the "expansion of the nanny state" while also fretting about "national perversity in our culture" seemingly unaware of how absurdly hypocritical she is being. She refers to remarks Abraham Lincoln made about America's economic and environmental status as it existed 150 years ago as though nothing could have possibly changed. This kind of willfully oblivious paranoid writing will only give strength to the author's enemies. By which I mean liberals.
Alan Brooks| 12.1.08 @ 3:08AM
yeah, this is just a standard turkey day piece. harmless.
however to mention in passing that Lincoln was the first GOP president?
The GOP of 2009 will not be like the GOP of 1859.