While it is intuitively obvious that many of us have much to be thankful for: our health, happiness, family and friends – this should be a time to consider the future. 

Never in the history of the United States did a President and his cadre of progressive socialist democrats shred the United States Constitution and impose a mandate on all  Americans to purchase insurance from a private third-party or face fines, imprisonment, or other government sanctions such as the potential loss of Social Security or other earned government benefits.

Never in the history of the United States has a President inflicted gratuitious pain on millions of Americans who will lose their insurance coverage in the coming months -- many being treated for serious ailments -- all to pursue a progressive socialist agenda. Face it people, the words progressive and liberal can now be equated with un-American socialism and communism.

Never in the history of the United States has a President sought to impose central planning and administration on the American people, to the extent of usurping Congressional law-making and States' rights.

Even with our political, social, and financial world in jeopardy -- exacerbated by a malignancy in the Presidency and metastisizing throughout the bureaucracy -- we still have much to be thankful for. Our poor are millionaires when compared to the poor of most third-world nations. Poor is a relative term when some of our most disadvantaged citizens own cellphones, televisions, vehicles, and are not wanting for food, water, shelter or clothing. Of course, there are the truly poor, especially those who are mentally ill or disabled by drug use. To not help the poorest and sickest among us when we pump billions into foreign kleptocracies is criminal.

We live in a deeply-divided nation, made more so by the self-serving, corrupt politicians who are deliberately dividing Americans and setting them against one another for to pursue a malignant and toxic political ideology. This too is criminal.

Many of our fellow Americans may not be enjoying the comfort of a home, a hot meal or the pleasant companionship of family and friends today or tomorrow. And, in these days of a 16-trillion dollar national debt, that is a crime.

No, I am not suggesting that we turn towards socialism and the failed prescription of “from each according to their ability, to each according to his needs,” but I am suggesting controlling the manner in which public funds appear to be used to promote the self-interests of the political ruling class and their benefactors, the special interests.

Why, I am bound to ask, are so many people suffering when the politicians are telling us that they are acting to improve the lives of American citizens? Where have all the billions spent on eliminating poverty, crime and decaying neighborhoods gone? And why do inner city cesspools of decaying neighborhoods, crime and corruption still exist with such “enlightened” political leadership?

Truth be told, we are witnessing the most corrupt government in the history of the United States on all levels – local, state and federal. Politicians whose votes are for sale, year-after-year, to those who provide campaign funds, voter support and personal enrichment for the politicians, their relatives and “special friends.”

We can plainly see thuggish union leaders who have used the strength of their non-complaining members to push citizens away from the bargaining table so self-serving deals can be struck between themselves and their paid representatives in government. Deals which cost citizens billions of dollars in higher costs, lost productivity and the reward of seniority over merit, complacency over innovation and most of all – the stifling of individualism to support the unexceptional collective.

We allow our leaders to speak of education – to inform and uplift our children to new heights, preparing them for competition on a global scale; while the evidence shows that the bulk of the money targeted for education is used for adults – the administrators, unionized employees and the special interests – and never reachs the classroom. We see our children becoming mind-numbed robots; worshiping an empty celebrity culture and playing mind-warping games on the latest electronic devices. The promise of computer assisted teaching has become a plague of computer-assisted babysitting. Our children cannot do math without a calculator and cannot prepare a research paper without Google, Wikipedia and a cut-and-paste environment.

We allow the nation to be led by a virtual unknown; a man who hides his credentials from the public and who needs a speech writer and teleprompter to speak to the American people about his goals and what he really believes.

We allow a political party to field eight or more candidates, most of them babbling platitudes while disguising personal failings that would not be accepted for a position on a school board much less high public office.

What the hell happened to those who believed that this generation was the “best and the brightest?” What happened to individual responsibility where individuals actually paid for what they wanted in terms of real time, effort and money?

So I ask you on this Thanksgiving holiday, where did we go wrong and are we going to allow a relatively small bunch of pandering politicians and their special interest friends to rule our lives?

Are we going to demand a return on the investment of our own taxable labor to benefit ourselves, our family and our friends rather than those who contribute nothing to society, but take their piece of the action for non-performance?

Are we going to stop pretending and realize that the “emperor has no clothes” and has become an imperious Marie Antoinette?

Are we going to hold people accountable for their actions? Charity is one thing, but state-directed charity towards themselves is quite another. Especially when it is promoted behind a political agenda of “wealth redistribution” to gain the support of the masses.

Please open your eyes, look about and realize that there are those who do not wish America and its citizens well – and that there is a great likelihood that these people have infiltrated our educational, law enforcement, government and institutional infrastructure.

Think about next Thanksgiving and whether or not you will really be thankful for what the corrupt politicians and more easily manipulated voters among us have wrought.

And never, never forget those who are serving our nation in foreign lands, perhaps not having a Thanksgiving as they stand vigilant watch over America's interests and provide safety and security to Americans everywhere.

 GOD BLESS AMERICA ...

 AND, GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND COMMUNITY.

-- steve