Thanksgiving used to be the day America took a deep breath. Before the Christmas rush, before the end-of-year chaos, far from the noise of politics, we had one day carved out in the calendar to pause and give thanks. It was our national reset button. And if there is anything this country needs in 2025, more than another round of outrage or another podcast argument, it is a reset.
We complain about America more than ever. Some of that is healthy. Debate sharpens ideas. Debate is what the Founders built us for. But there is a difference between debating and despising, between improving and destroying. Somewhere along the way, the loudest voices in our culture stopped sharpening and started tearing down.
Look at the people we rely on for leadership and guidance. So many of them make a living by telling us what is wrong with America. They can recite every failure, every flaw, every imperfection. But ask them to explain what is still good here, what is worth defending, what deserves celebration, and the conversation suddenly dries up. Gratitude has become rare. Optimism has become suspicious. Thankfulness has become countercultural. All the while, hate has become the new business model.
But gratitude is the very thing that built this country.
You do not get rid of darkness by yelling at it. You get rid of darkness by turning on a light. The Pilgrims understood this. They buried half their community the first winter, but their instinct was thanksgiving. They held a feast not because everything was perfect, but because God had carried them through. Hardship did not cancel gratitude. Hardship grew it.
That spirit shaped every American generation that followed. Gratitude kept families together during the Great Depression. Gratitude sent young men to Europe and the Pacific to defeat tyranny. Gratitude hung flags on every porch after 9/11. Our nation has never been perfect, but it has always been grateful. That is why it endured.
And this is why our modern crisis is not simply political. It is spiritual. We have lost the ability to see the good in front of us.
Real conservative leadership builds instead of destroys. Conservatives build families, communities, churches, businesses, movements, and nations. And you cannot build without a foundation. America has the strongest foundation of any nation in history. The most durable constitution. The freest markets. The widest path for upward mobility. The broadest protection of religious liberty. And the revolutionary truth that our rights come from God, not government.
This deserves not just defense but celebration. Thanksgiving is our reminder that gratitude is not naïve. Gratitude is protective. Gratitude gives clarity. Gratitude strengthens the nation that embraces it.
We are eighteen months away from the 250th anniversary of the United States. Very few nations reach this milestone with their founding documents intact. Even fewer do so with the same core ideals. While other nations rewrote themselves or collapsed under their own weight, America remains. But instead of preparing for a national celebration, we have become experts in diagnosing flaws and blind to blessings. Critique has a place. But critique without gratitude becomes entitlement. Critique without perspective becomes narcissism. Critique without light becomes darkness.
Thanksgiving is the antidote. And it is time to remember the things we should be unapologetically thankful for.
America has the strongest military on earth.
America has the most charitable citizens in the world.
America is the number one destination for people seeking freedom.
America leads the planet in medical breakthroughs and cures.
America produces more food and more energy than any nation in history.
America sends more missionaries around the world than all other nations combined.
America is still the safest, freest, most opportunity-rich place to raise a family anywhere on earth.
The good news is that Americans still want gratitude more than gloom. The numbers prove it. Bible sales in the United States are up 11% in the first nine months of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.
Volunteerism has also rebounded after the pandemic slump. The latest Census Bureau report shows that 28.3% of Americans — about 75.7 million people — volunteered with organizations between September 2022 and September 2023, up from 23.2% in 2021.
Gallup finds that Americans are increasingly embracing larger families, with 45% now saying that three or more children is ideal, the highest number recorded since 1971. Even charitable giving is rising. Giving USA reports total donations grew to $592.5 billion in 2024, an increase of 5.5%.
All of this demonstrates that the country actually wants gratitude and generosity. The evidence is right there. We just have people in the way who profit from telling us the opposite.
This is why Thanksgiving matters now more than ever. It invites us to disconnect from the noise and reconnect with what is real. And maybe this is the reminder America needs most: you cannot break bread on social media. You cannot share a meal in a comment section. You cannot hug your family between Instagram stories. You cannot laugh until your stomach hurts while doomscrolling. Gratitude happens around real tables with real people.
This Thanksgiving, I’m going to break bread. Hug my family. Hold hands during grace. Tell stories. Let my kids stay up late. Laugh until the turkey comes up. Watch football with people I love. Build memories no algorithm can fake.
I encourage others to, for one day, return to the things that built this country, the things worth defending.
America is divided. Politics is exhausting. The culture feels chaotic. But Thanksgiving cuts through all of that. It brings us back to the basics. It reminds us that a nation built by grateful people will only be restored by grateful people.
So, take the day to give thanks, not just for your family or your blessings but for your country. For all our flaws, for all our disagreements, for all our imperfections, America is still the greatest story of human freedom ever written.
And gratitude might be the most patriotic act left in America today.
Gates Garcia is the host of the YouTube show and podcast “We The People.” Follow him on Instagram and X @GatesGarciaFL.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
.png)
.png)
