---

Giving thanks for…

Freedom

On this distinctly American holiday, it is only right that I give thanks for the freedom its founders saw fit to establish. Too many stand idly by as those freedoms are taken from us by politicans, judges, and each other. I am thankful for the teachers, friends, and mentors who have helped me understand what freedom really is and to speak up when it is taken away. I am thankful for voices around the country and around the world brave enough to fight the forces of socialism, fascism, collectivism and all tyranny: Chinese dissidents, German wall-smashers. Polish Solidarity.

I am thankful for the brilliant men and women whose writings about freedom have brought to life its importance in their stirring speeches, declarations, epics, and satire: John Locke, Thomas P{aine, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Rose Wilder Lane, H.L. Mencken, Ayn Rand, Robert Heinlein, P.J. O’Rourke.

On this Thanksgiving, we should give thanks for our freedom, ask how much we still have, and resolve to do what we can to secure freedom for ourselves and our fellow man.

JAMES PLUMMER
Opinion Editor