Happy Thanksgiving, patriots. As we gather with family and friends around tables laden with turkey, stuffing, and pie, we pause – as Americans have for over two centuries – to give thanks. Not just for the food or the football games, but for something far deeper: the providence that birthed this nation, the sacrifices that preserved it, and the enduring principles that still call us to defend it.
In October of 1789, President George Washington issued the first presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation. Its words ring as true today as they did when a fledgling republic was still finding its footing:
“Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor…”
“Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be…”
“That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country… for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence… for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed…”
President George Washington understood that liberty is never merely the product of human effort. It is a gift – fragile, hard-won, and preserved only when a people remain humble enough to recognize the source of their blessings and courageous enough to defend them.
Nearly two hundred years later, President Ronald Reagan echoed that same conviction. In his 1985 Thanksgiving address he said:
“Perhaps no custom reveals our character as a Nation so clearly as our celebration of Thanksgiving Day. Rooted deeply in our Judeo-Christian heritage, the practice of offering thanksgiving underscores our unshakable belief in God as the foundation of our liberties and the beneficent source of all good gifts…”
“As we pause to give thanks, let us also resolve to renew the spirit of freedom and enterprise that has made America great.”
Reagan, like Washington, saw the inseparable link between gratitude, faith, and freedom. He knew that a people who forget to give thanks will soon forget why they ought to remain free – and who they must remain vigilant against.
Those are just some of the themes we talk about every week. We live in an age where powerful institutions routinely lie about the nature of our rights, the purpose of government, and the very meaning of truth. They tell us that liberty must be traded for safety, that leadership means blind obedience to experts, and that dissent from the approved narrative is the real danger to society.
Thanksgiving is the perfect moment to push back.
This holiday is a declaration that our rights come not from bureaucrats, not from justices in black robes, not from corporate boardrooms or Silicon Valley algorithms – but from our Creator. It is a reminder that leadership worthy of the name serves the people, not the other way around. And it is an annual refutation of the lie that we should be grateful for whatever scraps the ruling class, the new aristocracy, deigns to leave on the table.
So as you carve the turkey this year, take a moment to read George Washington’s proclamation aloud. Let Ronald Reagan’s words roll through your mind. Talk with your kids about what real leadership looks like – and what it doesn’t. Give thanks for the farmers, truckers, soldiers, entrepreneurs, pastors, and everyday Americans who still keep this country running despite the best efforts of those who would remake it in their own image.
Give thanks for the divine providence that has carried us this far. And then commit – as Washington urged – to “promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among [us].” In our time, that means speaking truth in the public square, exposing lies wherever they appear, and raising up a generation that understands both the price and the prize of liberty.
From all of us here at Liberty, Leadership, and Lies – thank you for listening, for thinking critically, and for refusing to trade your birthright for a mess of government pottage. May your Thanksgiving be filled with warmth, laughter, and the fierce gratitude of a free people.
God bless you, God bless Tennessee, God bless these United States of America.
– Your host, Larry Linton | Thanksgiving 2025