the elements of thanksgiving

Is there any little pleasure of hearth and home that we are allowed to enjoy unmolested by the thought police and bullies of political correctness?

It’s easy to understand the Left’s antagonism toward Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving story doesn’t exactly comport with its view of America, one in which Americans ought to feel burdened and guilty instead of blessed by their heritage. Thanksgiving also reinforces a notion the Left has worked decades to destroy: that God blessed America at its founding and continues to watch over it today.

In his bold new book, “The 10 Big Lies about America,” author and talk show host Michael Medved embarks on, in his words, an “aggressive effort to correct the ugly smears that play an increasingly prominent (and often unchallenged) role in our public discourse.”

The first big lie Medved addresses is the oft-repeated fallacy that the early European settlers committed genocide against Native Americans. As Medved reminds his readers, it was disease, not massacre, that caused 95 percent of Native American deaths.

Another Thanksgiving lie suggests it was the Native Americans the Pilgrims were thanking, not God. But it was the Pilgrims’ faith in divine providence that inspired both their heroic and dangerous journey to America and the famous meeting with the Native Americans once they arrived.

Though not a religious holiday in the sense that Easter and Christmas are, Thanksgiving is inextricably linked with belief in the divine. In other words, it’s almost impossible to discuss Thanksgiving without mentioning exactly to whom the thankful were giving thanks.