You Make a Difference! Our mission and operations are funded entirely by Patriots like you! Please support the 2024 Year-End Campaign now.

November 21, 2017

Giving Thanks for the Free Market

Food is cheaper today thanks to ingenuity and Liberty. Surely everyone can agree this is worth giving thanks.

In two days, millions of Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving. It’s a predominantly American tradition in which we thank God for blessing us with a comfortable lifestyle. Of course, those blessings would be significantly diminished — and are across many areas of the world — if not for the men and women who promote a free market.

In some nations, it’s not even possible to celebrate Thanksgiving like we do here. Take Venezuela. Statism has so ruptured and paralyzed the nation that most resources that are overflowing here are extremely sparse there. Of course, Venezuela doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. But even if it did, greed, corruption and power grabs have made it tangibly impossible to celebrate it American-style. In America, Thanksgiving generally consists of bountiful amounts of food. In Venezuela, millions of people are literally starving.

Simply stated: The people who most appreciate Thanksgiving are those who understand what life is like without the free market. In many cases, they or a family member have had to sacrifice something. Or at the very least they recognize that it is because of the free market that our tables are chock-full of goodies. And now has never been a better time to further promote the ideals that make it possible.

According to Investor’s Business Daily, “The American Farm Bureau Federation released its latest price survey of items typically found on the dinner table at Thanksgiving. What it found is that the cost of providing all the usual trimmings went down this year. Feeding 10 will run an average $49.12, down from $49.87 last year. The report also notes that the cost of Thanksgiving, when adjusted for inflation, is 23% less expensive today than it was in 1986.” IBD rightly credits the free market.

These statistics probably come as a surprise to most people. But they also offer sage advice. Reuters reports, “Nearly one-third of all adults will actively avoid political conversations when they see friends and family over the Thanksgiving and December holidays, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Friday. About half said they do not expect to discuss politics at all.”

This isn’t surprising when taking into account our polarized society. But the Reuters poll also means there are still plenty of people who are ready to engage in political discourse. (Here are our thoughts on that.) As we stuff our faces on Thanksgiving, it’s worth reminding your family, both liberal and conservative, that food is cheaper today thanks to ingenuity and Liberty. Surely everyone can agree this is a good thing and worth giving thanks for. And maybe, just maybe, it can segue into a civil discussion about our God-given liberties, which make Thanksgiving possible.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.