November 15, 2025 A.D.

I encourage everyone to make this year's Thanksgiving week about more than shopping, sports, or time off. The very foundation of our nation’s form of government is rooted in the history and meaning behind this holiday, and we must be intentional about remembering - and restoring - its spirit in our public life.

One of the most effective ways to subvert a nation is to control what is taught its schools. In history classrooms across America, the Pilgrims - our European ancestors traditionally associated with the first Thanksgiving - are often portrayed negatively. These first Christian families who braved a perilous journey crossing the Atlantic establishing a settlement on the east coast of America are frequently misrepresented or their motives maligned.

Ask the average student why the Pilgrims came to America and you’ll likely hear “religious freedom” or “to take land from the natives.” Few are taught that Pilgrims had gained religious freedom twelve years earlier, in 1608, when they fled England for Holland to escape the extreme persecution from a tyrannical King James I.