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Written by Guy Collins
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This article on the history of Thanksgiving as an annual recognized national event really piqued my interest, and hopefully you'll enjoy it, as well; and it will give you perspective on the true meaning and spirit and intent of Thanksgiving. The more I learn about the Founding Fathers, the more I am in awe of them. I believe it is true Providence that so many brilliant, noble, courageous, principled, honorable, wise men all congregated in the colonies, and worked together to define the freedom of our nation; to define a new form of government; and to give their fortunes, lives, and sacred honor to defend this new nation. |
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Written by Janet Beihoffer
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Today is Veterans Day, time set aside to honor those who have served in our military. Yesterday I posted the "Soldiers Poem" which aptly summarizes the gratitude we owe our soldiers.
In today's world, there are many who think all war is bad, peace at any cost, and have no clue as to how badly humans can behave when they either are a thuggish dictator or under the thumb of one. I was sent this reminder by Vets for Freedom. This quote by John Stuart Mill says it all:
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things; the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse." The moment we believe our freedoms inevitable, we cease to live in history and sour the soldier's sacrifice. Our freedoms--purchased on the battlefield--are indeed "worthy of war." |
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Written by Ed Morrissey
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I had forgotten to mention Flag Day, which celebrates the emblem of our nation. Normally I’d fly the flag myself, but at the moment I’m traveling in Southern California on family business, so I haven’t the opportunity to put the flag up at home. I’ll do it here instead:
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Written by Scott Johnson
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In his third debate with Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln quoted a resolution from 1850 in which the principles of the Ordinance of 1787 received "the sanction of Thomas Jefferson, who is acknowledged by all to be the great oracle and expounder of our faith." Jefferson's authority derived from the fact that, as Lincoln observed in his 1859 letter to Pierce, he was "the man who, in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national independence by a single people, had the coolness, forecast, and capacity to introduce into a merely revolutionary document, an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times." On Monday Thomas Jefferson turned 265; April 14 was the 265th anniversary of Jefferson's birth. The anniversary was marked by President and Mrs. Bush with a reception in the East Room of the White House. Harking back to Lincoln's remarks on Jefferson, President Bush observed: "With a single sentence, Thomas Jefferson changed the history of the world." |
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Written by Ronald Reagan
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"One of the most valuable lessons that history has to teach us is that after the most terrible frustration and discouragement, sometimes change can come so quickly and so unexpectedly, it surprises even those who have made it happen. This is particularly true in Washington. One Cabinet member in a former administration put it very well: 'The toughest job in Washington,' he said, 'is being able to tell the difference between the tides, the waves, and the ripples.' Well, actually that's been the problem with the perceptions of many of the experts and the pundits; they concentrate so much on the ripples, they can’t see the waves and the tides."
—Ronald Reagan |
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Quotations
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Written by Abraham Lincoln
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But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
—Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (1863) |
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