The Hill’s Pundits Blog

November 20, 2007

Thanksgiving in the Two Americas

Brent Budowsky

In our two Americas, this holiday season will be the best of times for some and the worst of times for others, and it is a moment to give thanks not for what we have, but to those who live their lives in the true spirit of America…

The sales of luxury presents will be solid at the great shops that cater to the high incomes of one America, while workers in the other America will be searching for bargains at the Wal-Marts, trying to afford their holiday presents sandwiched between skyrocketing gas prices and rising food costs…

We will debate immigration during this holiday season, and Lord knows changes are needed, but one voice has been silenced in our debate during this season. It is the voice of that Lady who lifts the torch in New York harbor, who tries to speak to us over the voices of fear, hysteria and self-interest…

Let’s pay a tribute in front of the tree or the menorah to those who serve in the homeless shelters, the Marines who find Toys for Tots, the synagogues and churches and mosques that extend their hand to those in need, the food banks, the patriots who drive the meals on wheels and the kids who teach us, by finding phone cards so loving families can call troops during their hours of combat.

Ronald Reagan famously called America “a city on a hill,” but Reagan was not the first president to use that phrase. John Kennedy spoke those words in his farewell address at the statehouse in Massachusetts 11 days before assuming the presidency when he pledged to bring to Washington the four virtues of courage, judgment, integrity and dedication.

John Kennedy was quoting John Winthrop addressing the Puritans in colonial New England in 1630 in his sermon “A Model of Christian Charity” in which he implored the early Americans to always remember the spirit of the true America.

Let’s give thanks to Winthrop’s great idea of the city on a hill, to the Lady in the Harbor, to the notion that there should only be one America, and that America stands as a beacon for the tired and the poor, for the unpopular and the persecuted, for the hungry and the hopeless and those who honor our America by lifting all Americans, from those who serve to those in need.

In this spirit, a Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Budowsky serves on the Advisory Council of the Intelligence Summit and is a contributing editor to Fighting Dems News Service. He handled intelligence issues for Sen. Lloyd Bentsen when the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was originally passed, and was legislative director to Bill Alexander, then the chief deputy whip of the House. He can be read on The Hill’s Pundits Blog and reached at brentbbi@webtv.net.

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