Let us Give Thanks.

By Meg Penfield Marker


During this holiday season, we examine what we are thankful for… some have more than others and others may not have enough. As the Desert Cities Think Tank looks back in retrospect to the year 2009, one question remains unanswered that is really the essence of what most of the articles have been written about: employment, liberty and prosperity. All are relevant in some way, shape or form... and all of which we are thankful for.

Yet, the Coachella Valley still has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, America’s liberty, as we know it is at a crossroad and prosperity is being taxed away.

As President Obama is more concerned about his world travels (where’s Hillary?) rather than American prosperity…

As both Congress and the Senate are more concerned about spending money (they don’t have), rather than creating legislation that puts Americans to work…

As Congress and the Senate are working for the big business lobby groups – rather than working for the people (who they were elected by and for)…

As Obama was selected and endorsed by the Democratic National Committee (which abides by a set of fundamental rules that are within the laws of our Constitution) to run for President - and was elected by the American people under those ideologies…

As he took the oath of office with his hand upon the Bible swearing he would protect and defend the laws of our Constitution acknowledging it is a nation under God…

As the members of Congress and the Senate took those same oaths under those same ideologies…

And as a people, we witness the lack of verbiage within the various House bills that protect the Constitution, religious liberty and prosperity.

It is no wonder unemployment continues to rise, our liberty is at stake, and America will not prosper at this pace.

The history of America and her founding principles have always had a common denominator: We are a nation under God… a nation built on the fundamental Judeo Christian belief system. The United States is the only country in the world to have defined itself as this.1

From William Brewster and the Mayflower passengers, the Revolutionary war and our beloved Founding Fathers, our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution (emulating the 10 Commandments 2 ) and our Judeo Christian architectural mosaics in our nations capitol3…

To every President our nation has ever elected, who all have publicly attributed this great nation as one under God (err, almost).

Sadly, the time has come for Americans to wake up. As a result of the eagerness in the present administration to restructure our government and do away with our Judeo Christian principles in our Constitution and culture, it has become necessary that a ‘Declaration’ be written in order to protect our belief system.

"The Manhattan Declaration" was drafted October 20, 2009 and released on November 20, 2009 by various Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders in America.4 It is short, to the point, and has already gained over 200,000 signatures in its first week. This is much in part due to the publicity from Fox News on the Bill O’Reilly’s show and an article O’Reilly wrote, “Faithfully Angry” on his website.5 Also, our local newspaper, The Desert Sun, printed this in an op-ed November 31, 2009.

So, during this holiday season, we give thanks for our homes and our food and our safety in our land. We thank God for freedom and justice.


1 Jewish World Review, "WHAT DOES "JUDEO-CHRISTIAN" MEAN?," by Dennis Prager, March 30, 2009.
2,3 Newt Gingrich Books from the Official Newt Gingrich Online Store , Rediscovering God in America,"by Newt Gingrich. 2006.
4 The Manhattan Declaration, November 20, 2009,
5 Bill O'Reilly: Bill's Column - Faithfully Angry, November 25, 2009.

Write or phone with comments or concerns to:

Senator Barbara Boxer @ Barbara Boxer: US Senator from California
Senator Dianne Feinstein @ United States Senator Dianne Feinstein, California : Home
Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack @ Congresswoman Mary Bono