Report to the People
By: State Senator Ernie Harris

Thanksgiving—a time to offer thanks.  This year, Thanksgiving is more than big meals with turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie.  It’s more than time off work, holiday parades, pro football and early holiday sales.  This year, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, America is at war.  Brave men and women are fighting for our freedoms. 

As you pause for Thanksgiving, don’t forget all the things we have to be thankful for.  America is the strongest, most unified country on the face of the earth.  The tragic events of September 11th  should serve as a reminder for us not to overlook what we normally take for granted.  I suspect there will be fewer complaints about the “family” this Thanksgiving and more appreciation for everyone you sit with at the dinner table. 

Of course it was the Pilgrims who celebrated the first Thanksgiving.  After a hard and devastating first year in the New World the Pilgrim's fall harvest was very plentiful. The Pilgrims had beaten the odds. They built homes in the wilderness, they raised enough crops to keep them alive during the long coming winter, and they were at peace with their Indian neighbors.  Thus the custom of an annually celebrated Thanksgiving, held after the harvest, has continued through the years

In his thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789 President George Washington wrote "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public Thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

I am a proud member of the Republican caucus in the State Senate.  I am proud to represent you and your views in Frankfort.  I, like you, am conservative.  I am a supporter of life and God.  I believe we must have morality and compassion in Government.

I am also extremely thankful.  Of course, I’m thankful for my health and my family, but I am also thankful to live in a country where the government is “of the people, by the people and for the people.”  I am thankful we stand united, eager to make our state, country and entire planet a safer place by ridding the world of terrorism.

From the police officers and firefighters who protect us, to the school teachers who mold our next generation, to the factory workers who keep our economy strong, to our President who is leading our nation boldly during this time of great challenge.  We are a state and nation blessed with honorable men and women from all walks of life.  You see them everyday—you are one of them.  We are all united in our love for state and country.  And this Thanksgiving, we are all united in our prayers of thanks and our prayers for peace.