There is no time of year quite like Thanksgiving to reflect on the year’s events, both good and bad. Take for example, the progress made on Capitol Hill (or setbacks, depending on your party) this year. Or consider the way a midterm election can bring people together like well, really nothing else can.
In the spirit of remembering the reason for the season, The Daily Caller thought it might be useful to drum up a list of just a few noteworthy things conservatives and liberals can be thankful for this year. Now, some might assume that any liberal list will take a shellacking next to a conservative one, but that’s just simply not true.
Liberals have plenty of things to be thankful for this year. And TheDC can prove it.
For liberals, a shellacking’s silver lining
For starters: yes, conservatives have 63 reasons to be thankful for the U.S. House of Representatives this Turkey Day, but liberals still have the resilient Nancy Pelosi – the first female Speaker of the House. Conservatives will never top that. Ever. Instead, conservatives will take over the House in January with the first orange American. That’s just not as impressive.
Liberals can also be thankful for the Senate. While its larger, noisier counterpart deserted the liberal agenda, the Senate remains staunchly blue. Sure, Democrats no longer hold a supermajority, but who needs that? Fifty-one seats is plenty to stop an impending conservative agenda.
But liberals could also be thankful for the opportunity to reach across the aisle and work with their fellow patriots. When the DC took to Twitter to ask a handful of liberals what they were thankful for, however, one Twitter-user seemed to disagree. @Peterdau, a media consultant who worked on John Kerry’s presidential campaign and Hilary Clinton’s senate campaign, responded by saying “Liberals are thankful that liberal values eventually triumph, no matter the obstacles and setbacks.”
Moving on, a more light-hearted liberal tweeter said he was thankful for the progress made on reversing conventional wisdom about drugs.“[I am] thankful that the concept of marijuana legalization was legitimized this year – a chink in the armor of drug war paranoia,” wrote The Nation’s Michael Tracey.
For conservatives, Obama was a blessing in disguise
Conservatives, on the other hand, are thankful first and foremost for President Obama’s declining approval ratings. While the 2008 Obamamania seemed like the Apocalypse for limited-government advocates, 2012 seems like it could turn out to be the light at the end of a very, dark tunnel.Who would have predicted, on Thanksgiving of 2008, that Obama’s approval ratings would be so dismal two years into office? Not even conservatives thought that was possible.
Then there’s the healthcare bill. Yes, conservatives can be thankful for that too. Not only did it stir up so much nationwide angst a “Tea Party” movement was born, it created an anti-Democratic energy that quite literally swept a tidal wave of Republicans into office and a whole lot of Democrats out.It wouldn’t be that surprising, for example, to see John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, Rand Paul, or Marco Rubio grabbing their family member’s hand around the table this Thanksgiving and say “Thank you, healthcare bill”.
Furthermore, conservatives can also be thankful they no longer have to defend Uncle Sam when he’s caught with his hand down your pants (here’s looking at you, Transportation Security Administration). While conservatives were stuck defending the privacy breaches like the Patriot Act and warrant-less eavesdropping during the Bush administration, they can now be thankful that job was taken over by liberals.
Biden. Full stop.
Then there are the good-old-fashioned American values conservatives can be thankful for. In the words of Fox News commentator, New York Daily News writer, and Twitter-user Andrea Tantaros: “Family. Friends. Faith. Freedom. And vodka.”
So there you have it. A detailed, though not exhaustive, list of what conservatives and liberals can be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Sometimes it is helpful to be reminded that beyond the partisan politics, there is reason to give thanks.