“How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? He’d chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could if a woodchuck could chuck wood.”

I know it’s an old tongue-twister, but there’s a lesson to be learned here – and it’s not a mind twister.

Some people – e.g. LEFTISTS – will never be satisfied no matter how much you give them. They will always find a way to want, to need, to deserve more of what you have. They will always want you keep less and use less of whatever they deem you ought to sacrifice.

Having stuff and using stuff is the original progressive sin.

I couldn’t help but notice this over Thanksgiving. It was a good day – I ignored all of Obama’s crap for the whole day.

You know, there was a time when I went months or years without ever having to think of the federal government. It didn’t interfere much, back then. Good times, good times.

Anyway, Thanksgiving morning, my wife used natural gas to cook some unnecessary food. We wrapped the kids in some synthetic clothes, and amused them with manufactured electronic gadgets, while we took a non-essential joy-ride two hours away to another city in a fossil-fueled mini-van, consuming mass quantities of carbonated beverages.

In that other city, we ate more than we should have with our family, for which a turkey gave its life. I played with a little girl who made me a pretend dinner with pretend tea while we pretend-shopped and played with dolls.

Even worse, instead of thanking government for all this, we gave thanks to God for the blessings of liberty that we now enjoy. Sacrilege! And to top it off, we didn’t even plant a carbon-emission offset tree for forgiveness.

It occurred to me, that just by living my every-year little life, I am a freaking leftist’s nightmare: a suburban, middle-class, home-owner, commuter, consumer, childrearing, carbon-spewing demon that needs to be sent back to hell.

So, if you have a house, give thanks for it. Somewhere, there’s a leftist trying to figure out a way to get you out of it.

If you have a car, give thanks for it. Somewhere, there’s a leftist trying to find a way to take it away from you.

If you have a job, give thanks for it; if there’s something you like to eat or drink, or smoke, or protect yourself with, or have property rights to, or light with, or heat with, or cool with, or read, or do, or think, or believe, or buy, or have money for … well, you get the idea.

Give thanks for it; for somewhere, there’s a leftist trying to talk you out of it, or failing that, trying to take it away from you. It’s all for your own good, or for the children, or for the poor, or for the planet, don’t you know.

It’s true that everything we do has some kind of effect. Everything we use has some kind of consequence. Every step we take, every move we make, every breath we take has a consequence.

The sin of life is unavoidable. But that sin is already forgiven, by God. And if you don’t believe that, there’s this – no so-called authority on earth will match your contrition.

The truth is, it doesn’t help anyone to disengage from life. To avoid living when one has the opportunity, to avoid participating when one has the ability, to avoid contributing to the ecology of human life when one has the capacity, is the ultimate waste – the waste of human potential.

Don’t be talked out of life. Be thankful for it; and otherwise, work to improve the situation, for yourself and others, with thanksgiving for what may yet become.

Be respectful and conservative, but be cautious. Remember, leftists will never be satisfied; and they will never stop until they stop everything.

All Leftists do is make people poorer. But they can only do this if we, the people, let them. Therefore, don’t let them. Simple!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Proclamation of Thanksgiving, Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863