A Conservative’s Thanksgiving Paean — Ground Beneath, God Above, Allies Beside

It would be easy to take a glass-half-empty approach to this year’s holiday season. To grimly predict that we will be a great deal less merry this time next year, etc. The events of November 6th, coupled with the brewing conflict involving Israel, and the impunity with which malfeasants are treated in our government today is enough to drive one to have too many glasses of Uncle Eddie’s holiday grog.

However, that seems to me to be a decidedly un-American perspective. This nation has been in dire straits before and has survived by the grace of God. I am not Pollyannish enough to vow that the America we know and love will survive another 4 years of assault by Barack Obama, but I am firmly convinced of one fact: if any nation and its people could survive such an assault on their fundamental principles and laws, it is America.

We have a great deal to be thankful for this year, the most obvious being that we live in what is still the greatest country on God’s green earth. Yes, we’re on a rapid, downward trajectory but the rest of the world is either trying to catch up to where we were or already ahead of us on the road to serfdom.

Countries like Australia, Honduras, South Korea, Poland, and others are making great strides in creating free-market economies and maximizing the opportunities and liberties of their citizens, but they will need several generations before they can be considered a world-beater and call the shots as our nation has been able to do for the past 50 years. Most of the other nations which make up the Western world have already fallen hook, line, and sinker for the socialist charade and are miles ahead of us on the highway to totalitarianism. Nowhere else on this planet will you find a nation which provides as much opportunity, in combination with such a vast array of natural beauty and resources, as the United States of America.

We have the finest military in the world. And every single soldier in that military volunteered to be a part of it. We are blessed to have such an abundance of selfless and courageous young men and women. They will keep us safe from any and all threats, provided the brass and the politicians (but I repeat myself…) let them do what they are willing and able to do. I am thankful for the thousands of men and women in uniform who are serving around the globe, missing their family’s Thanksgiving dinner so that my family would be able to feast in freedom and security.

I am thankful for my brothers and sisters in the conservative trenches with me. My friend and fellow Clasher, John Kirkwood, is fond of thanking President Obama for “organizing our community” and he’s absolutely right. The explosion of conservative blogs, forums, and alternative media sources since 2008 is astounding. We have come so far, so quickly, and have impacted the political landscape of this country. Remember when the Tea Party couldn’t get a lick of coverage? They thought they could ignore us. They were wrong. They thought they would intimidate us into silence through lies and demonization. They were wrong. If they think they can get us to kiss the ring by electing Chicago Santa Claus for a second term, they are about to discover they are thrice-wrong.

I am thankful that I belong to a group of people who share the same values and vision for this country, and that this group of people is willing to stand up and fight for what they know is right. I have no doubt that President Obama’s second term will produce even greater determination, more explosive innovation, and lots more awesome YouTube clips of progressive dillweeds getting owned by Joe the Barber or Mabel the Accountant.

I am thankful that I serve a God who combines righteousness with humility, truth with mercy, and holiness with grace, and that this nation is founded on His principles. Yes, those principles have been muted, abridged, neutered, and mocked but the One on whom they stand will not be so easily dismissed. Our nation is not founded on a God who prizes strength over all. Nor is it founded on a pantheon of gods with morals as varied as their appetites. The basis of our country’s governance is a God who does not waver or waffle. Not only are His attributes written in stone, He created that stone on which they are written.

In short, this year I am thankful for the ground under my feet, my God above, and y’all by my side.