The Mayflower Compact:
In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc. Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.
We give you thanks almighty God for all the blessings you have given us. God bless all of our ChicagoBoyz contributors and their families, our readers and friends. God bless the many people who are travelling for this holiday, and grant that families will resolve their animosities and be at peace with each other. Thank God for the courage of the many people who came here over the centuries and gave us the strong, free and prosperous country we have so unworthily inherited, ruled by law and free association and cooperative effort, and not by the whim of the powerful. God grant that we may keep it well and leave it to our children and grandchildren even better than it was given to us. God bless our soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and other dangerous places, and may He have mercy on the ones who have been killed and strength and hope to the wounded and their families.
God bless America.
God bless you! A wonderful and uplifting post. I am proud to know you!
Very good, Lex.
We hear daily the roars of frustration from the powerful whose whims cannot entirely be indulged. Ha ha.
God bless America!
Why must I be thankful to America?
Because I am a free person and I can take my own decisions in my own terms, because I live in a democracy, Mexico is a democracy, incipient if you will, but a democracy at least, and I know that, had the soviet union continued spreading communism around the world like it did in Cuba and many other parts of the world, chances are I wouldn’t be free in my own country today.
Because I believe in the human potential, in its capacity to create wealth where there is none, and his inalienable right to pursue his happiness, and to me, America represents exactly that.
Because America fought fascism and communism, sacrificed thousands of American lives to save millions of lives (I only wish those American soldiers had not stopped at Berlin, but continued spreading freedom and liberalism on to the east, across the soviet union, all of Asia, cross the waters and land in Latin America. Then perhaps I my parents would have enjoyed a free and prosperous country. But I know that would have been impossible too. I am just day dreaming).
Because of Walt Whitman and Ralph W. Emerson and Allan Poe!
Because of George Washington, because Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, because of Ronald Reagan, because of Newt Gingrich!
Because of Steinbeck, Hemingway, because of Robert Frost, and Sheil Silverstein.
Because of Disney and then when I was 10 because of Batman!
Because of Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Louis Armstrong!
Because of Starbucks! Because of Sears, because of IHOP! Because of Ford cars! Because of Amazon.com, because of ebay! Because of my Iphone!
Because of HBO! Because of Fooball and Beisbol!
Because I love internet, free, open, uncensored by regimes.
Because of Chigagoboyz!
Great post Lex!
Great comment JoseAngel!
Thanks Lex for this post, this picture, and this sentiment.
JoseAngel — that is a great list.
We have a lot to be thankful for.
The fight for freedom never ends, people – the enemies of it are just beaten back. Sometimes they are beaten back a long way, and for a long time, but they are always there, grumbling and sniveling and plotting in dark corners. And they are always ready to mount another attack, especially against the unwary, who are too easily apt to give up a little freedom for a little margin of perceived safety, or a little piece of mind.
Vigilance … clear sight … and courage; those are the watchwords, my friends – and the job never ends, for those who truly believe in freedom.
I love it when a devout Catholic quotes devout Puritans. Lex, consider a(nother) plate of barbecue credited to your account, redeemable upon your appearance in KC.
Jay, I am really going to have to cash my chips — redeemable in ribs — one of these days. Maybe a road trip in 2010.
Wonderful post. God bless, indeed.
(JoseAngel: I love, love, love that comment!)
Onparkstreet,Dave, Lex,
I forgot Bruce Springsteen!
And many other people and things America has given the world, GPS, the Hubble!, the list is endless and I chicagoboz.net wouldn’t the space to write it here.
I think there is a time to say thanks. Thanksgiving is the time to do it. I don’t know why people don’t celebrate it here in Mexico, but I know we do it in my house, with my wife and my son. It’s a very American tradition, but the whole world should celebrate it.
And I’ve always considered a priviledge to have been born in a century of pax americana, because it has been good, and it doesn’t matter what some say across the pond, and here south the border, I bet the farm they intimately know in their bones that these times, this age in which we live is probably the best time humanity ever had and it is so thanks to America. And I can say that again.