Thank God on this Thanksgiving Day

World should give thanks for America
By Mark Steyn

Speaking as a misfit unassimilated foreigner, I think of Thanksgiving as the most American of holidays.

Read the rest of this nice piece by an outsider who knows America well. Steyn concludes:

Americans should, as always, be thankful this Thanksgiving, but they should also understand just how rare in human history their blessings are.

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It is good to reflect, as does Steyn, how different America is from other countries. Our European ancestors and immigrants said no to the concept of kings and queens of European monarchies. They said no to the class of lords and ladies of the governing aristocracy. They repudiated the concept of a state church which bound the conscience in forced worship. They adopted the rule of law, a republic, as their form of government in which no one is above the law.

The American experiment has not been perfect because it truly was an experiment, shaping a society, nation and government that had never existed previously in the world. And of course it could not be perfect because human beings are not perfect. However, our ancestors created, through dependence upon God, a marvelous, unique place to exercise our God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

But we are letting this greatness slip away from us quickly. We look for utopia in this world instead of the modest and realistic goal of living out our God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

In the utopia moderns are pandering for, God is excluded. Pandering after that utopia, we hanker to create rights that God does not give us. So we ourselves desire to give them to ourselves. Collectively, we look to government to create and grant those rights to us. We twist and torture our Constitution to grant us those selfishly desired rights.

In the American experiment we have returned to looking to government to meet all our needs, which our predecessors rejected. Rule of law is fast becoming the rule of lawyers–a new class, which inherently creates a ruled class. Judges play God, creating law rather than applying law. Too many presidential candidates cannot wait for their coronation. Senators all too eagerly have become lords and ladies. And we are satisfied to conceive of ourselves as commoners who must appeal to lords and ladies, kings and queens.

My fellow Americans, it is time we back up at least 75 years in our American experiment and start afresh. We have freedom when we recognize that each of us stands equal before God in this world and are accountable to him for all our actions toward all others who should enjoy that same God-given right to freedom. Thank God today for what we have remaining in the American experiment. And work to keep America free.