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Thanksgiving versus Democratic Socialists of America

November 24, 2025

Andy Caldwell

OPINION by ANDY CALDWELL

I am encouraging you to ask everyone you know some very serious, in fact, existential threat-level questions today considering a phenomenal column written by James Hirsen in Newsmax, “Nothing ‘Democratic’ About Socialists.”

In his column, Hirsen outlines that socialism is no longer just creeping onto the American stage, considering the election of Mamdani as the Mayor of New York City, as Mamdani is just the latest socialist elected to office in America, including 11 members of Congress and over 200 state and local officials.

These electeds are all card-carrying members of the Democratic Socialists of America, some 80,000 strong, who, Hirsen writes, are seeking power through infiltration for nothing less than nefarious purposes including “the abolition of private property, ending capitalism, and replacing the free market system with the goal of government control of virtually everything.” As I mentioned last week, Mamdani indicated the same when he stated, “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve and no concern too small for it to care about.”

Hirsen reveals that the DSA’s platform demands “public ownership of utilities, housing, and finance, decommodifying healthcare and education, and seizing the means of production, which are all prequels to the imposition of totalitarianism and freedom’s ultimate demise.”

As CS Lewis rightfully observed, “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience…This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be ‘cured’ against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.”

One question before us today is how does the rise of the DSA comport to our nation’s core and foundational belief that the only legitimate purpose of government is to secure our unalienable divine rights of life, liberty, speech, religion, and private property etc., and that these rights can only be secured by way of limited government, because government has and will always be the biggest threat to all our rights?

Another question is, how have we as a nation fallen so far into the grips of communism’s legacy, as Hirsen points out, that is “one of economic decay, government ruin, and social collapse, a distinct pattern that is historically consistent across time, place, and events?”

Our nation, in fact, sets aside a day of Thanksgiving every year, not to thank mankind for our liberty but to thank “providence.” Specifically, our first president, George Washington, inaugurated the first Thanksgiving by way of proclamation in 1789, with gratitude to God for his favor, protection, and providence. The introduction to the proclamation reads, “Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God”…

What is providence? We have the answer from the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “God’s works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing of all his creatures, and their action.”

Our day of Thanksgiving is a good time to ask for mercy via “the favorable interposition of providence” as it relates to all these questions, as Washington stated, “Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation—for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence…”

Andy Caldwell is the executive director of COLAB in Santa Barbara County and host of The Andy Caldwell Radio Show, weekdays from 3-5 p.m. on  FM 98.5, FM 99.5, AM 1240, AM 1290 and FM 96.9.

 


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2 words: Social Security.


0

This is what providence truly means.

We are called, in every age, to recognize the profound stewardship entrusted to us by Providence. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches, God’s works of providence are “his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing of all his creatures, and their action.” This sustaining care is not limited to mankind alone but extends to the earth itself, to the creatures that inhabit it, and to those among us who are most vulnerable.

It is therefore our solemn duty—an extension of obedience to God’s law and imitation of His providence—to protect creation from wanton destruction, to shelter and uplift the oppressed, and to safeguard the intricate balance of life that God has ordained. To act otherwise is to disregard the very providence that grants us life and to neglect the moral order God has established. In defending the environment, in tending to the marginalized, and in honoring all living creatures, we fulfill the mandate of God’s sustaining care and demonstrate fidelity to the divine governance of the world He continues to preserve.


6

Socialism is as similar to communism as capitalism is. Does he really think Thanksgiving is a great celebration of capitalism where everyone gets together and shares their wealth, just like capitalism teaches. Are there no qualifications necessary to have an opinion column on this site? And is he honestly arguing in favor of robber barons? WTF?


4

Socialism is definitely a threat. But it isn’t the democratic socialist–that system works extremely well in Europe where most of the world’s “happiest countries” are. The real threat are the national socialists, aka “Nazis”, who have invaded the GOP.


2

Or the Communists that have invaded the Demos.


-1

You must know by now, that the “nazi” tag no longer has any weight in reality?


1

I get the sense that this guy likes to hear himself talk.


14

Nobody else would want to listen to him.


6

Yet, here you are, hanging on his every word to comment on those words only he wants to hear.


Libocrats have ZERO self-awareness! It is their mental illness (as confirmed by multiple mental health studies).


Ironic.


-4

A government defending apologist who calls himself a rebel ridicules others for not being self-aware? Is rich. Oh wait maybe it’s actually a practice of irony….


….the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.


3

“Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool.” Mark Twain. Y’all be well.


3

That’s a spurious quotation that hasn’t been cited until recently.


“Anti-religious quotations from famous people don’t just go unused over that length of time. If Twain wrote or said it, somebody would have quoted it online before 2000. The quotation is almost certainly not from Mark Twain.” – Zebra Fact Check (.com)


“While the quote is widely circulated and associated with Twain, it is likely a misattribution with no verifiable source linking it to him.” – breakthroughquotes.com


It’s confounding and troubling why Americans wouldn’t exhibit more honor & respect to President Washington and his counsel for our country such as his 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation.


2

From the “Catholic Courier”:


His writings notwithstanding, several aspects of Twain’s life actually paint a picture of a religious man. Twain makes frequent uncritical references in his memoirs to his Presbyterian upbringing; his funeral was in a Presbyterian church (the Brick Church in New York City); and he counted several clergy among his close friends. In addition, Twain considered his best work to be Joan of Arc, a reverential biographical account of a Catholic saint who exhibited all the human ideals Twain found so lacking in the rest of mankind.


Twain’s autobiography was not allowed to be released until 2010, 100 years after his passing. This is why many previously unknown Twain quotes have recently surfaced


-1

Yes, but those pesky writings do exist and throughout his many novels, stories and essays he seems to firmly reject Judeo-Christian theology.


1

I’m OK with it being attributed to “Anonymous”. It’s the thought that counts.


2