Would You Like Some Politics With Your Turkey?
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, fresh off a disastrous election campaign, believes that Americans might be discussing politics with their Turkey today. (I can’t think of a subject less likely to come up today at the McClarey Thanksgiving Dinner except for raising armadilloes for fun and profit.)
In the event that it does, the DCCC has a cheatsheat which you may peruse here.
I love politics and I love to debate politics, and I think this is utterly bizarre. We have a wonderful holiday here today and all the political mavens at the DCCC can think of is yet another day to fight political battles? This is crazy and does their side absolutely no good. Far better to focus on the holiday itself as President Obama does in the annual ritual Turkey pardon in the video above, the type of silly ceremony I cherish on national holidays.
I wish all our readers a happy and resolutely non-political Thanksgiving! Reserve the politcal cudgels for other days. Today is for thanking the Almighty, stuffing ourselves and assuming the comatose position in front of the TV, sacred Thanksgiving traditions that I am striving mightly to pass on to my offspring!
7 Responses to Would You Like Some Politics With Your Turkey?
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Rush, a majority of the GOP in Congress, and 61% of we the people oppose the listed big government taxes, rationing, and wreckulations.
BTW: we had chocolate covered mousse balls for dessert. Delish!! Thank you, Sarah Palin!
After the dressing down they received, they are still convinced they can sell this turkey of a platform. They will continue yam-mering until we are all vegetables. They made the mistake of thinking it was all gravy after the 2008 election, but the proof of the pudding is in the tasting. If they could have squashed the political talk on this American feast, they could have gotten down to meat and potatoes tomorrow. But perhaps they feel the sauce this Thanksgiving is a little thin, so they need to butter up the faithful and roll with the political punches. But we’ll just relish in their disarray passively today.
Wishing all a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving.
Dminor, all I can add to your yummy comment is that reaching for the antacid is the only possible reaction to the attempt by the DCCC to inject politics into our Turkey revels. (That, and the fact that I am nomally reaching for antacid at 6:00 PM on Thanksgiving!)
On the contrary, I enjoyed the annual political discussion at my family’s Thanksgiving dinner. With 4 Republicans, 2 Democrats, 1 liberal Libertarian and 1 Independent (myself), the conversation was often heated and animated. But it was enjoyalbe and nobody left the table angry.
I reminded my Catholic family members that healthcare is a basic human right; I don’t know how else to read Matthew 5 and 25. In addition, the church explicitly supports redistribution of wealth. If you call yourself a Catholic and you do not believe this, you may want to re(?)familiarize yourself with the Catholic Catechism, beginning with paragraph 2426 — Social and Economic Justice.
And please don’t choke on your leftovers! Enjoy the rest of the long holiday.
“I reminded my Catholic family members that healthcare is a basic human right; I don’t know how else to read Matthew 5 and 25.”
Astonishing then that this “right” took almost 2000 years to be recognized.
As for redistribution of wealth, that is a very strained interpretation of 2426:
“The development of economic activity and growth in production are meant to provide for the needs of human beings. Economic life is not meant solely to multiply goods produced and increase profit or power; it is ordered first of all to the service of persons, of the whole man, and of the entire human community. Economic activity, conducted according to its own proper methods, is to be exercised within the limits of the moral order, in keeping with social justice so as to correspond to God’s plan for man.”
You might also wish to read 2431:
“The responsibility of the state. “Economic activity, especially the activity of a market economy, cannot be conducted in an institutional, juridical, or political vacuum. On the contrary, it presupposes sure guarantees of individual freedom and private property, as well as a stable currency and efficient public services. Hence the principal task of the state is to guarantee this security, so that those who work and produce can enjoy the fruits of their labors and thus feel encouraged to work efficiently and honestly. . . . Another task of the state is that of overseeing and directing the exercise of human rights in the economic sector. However, primary responsibility in this area belongs not to the state but to individuals and to the various groups and associations which make up society.”
Wow, what a collection of a) things I oppose, and b) methods I oppose aimed at things I support! Thanks, DCCC, for providing such a succinct list!
Uhh…
Matthew 5 includes: the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes, the similes of salt and light, “I come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it,” and teachings about anger, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and loving your enemies. One could perhaps find an individual responsibility to practice works of charity in some of the Beatitudes (though it would require some parsing,) but one person’s individual responsibility to charity does not equal another’s right to specific service. And neither a moral responsibility to charity nor a moral right to benefit from it equal a government right to dictate citizen contributions or to decide who benefits. Where did you get a “basic human right” to healthcare from this?
Matthew 25 includes: the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, the parable of the talents, and the judgement of the nations (separating the sheep from the goats, when I was hungry, you fed me, etc.) Again, the individual responsibility to charity is emphasized, not because the hungry, thirsty and imprisoned necessarily have a claim on you, but because voluntarily serving them is like serving God. So the Christian has a moral obligation, and one could from that, if one really wants to find one, extrapolate a moral right to receive charity for the hungry, thirsty, etc. But how that translates into a “basic human right” to healthcare or grants a government the right to mediate the provision of charity, I’d like to have explained.