This Thanksgiving, remember what makes America strong: Our people and our families

This Thanksgiving, Americans will spend a wonderful day at home filled with good food and probably some football, part🌳aking in a uniquely American tradition that has been with our nation from its very beginnings.

I am looking forward to spending some joyful time with my wife, Susan, along wi♓th our son Nick and his wife, Rachael, and he🥂r family.

In homes across America, families will gathe♊r and add their own twists to the Thanksgiving tradition: electing children to break the wishbone for good luck, gratefully savoring Grandma’s💜 pumpkin pie, or trying — and often failing — to avoid discussing politics during the meal.

Despite these small differences, the constant in each hom🌠e will be this: family.

As the family goes, so goes the nation.

From our families come our congregations and our communities; they are the essential “little platoons” our Founding꧒ Fathers identified as being indis꧂pensable to the health of our country.

Every facet of our society, be it the education of our children, our economic prosperity, the stren�♔�gth of our religious institutions, or the health of our political system, depends on our families.

As a former secretary of state, I know the world is a dangerous place, and🧸 I fear it will only get worse before it gets better.

We ha🍸ve a land war in Europe, a war instigated by terrorists in the Middle East, threatened war in Asia, and bad actors all around the world — from terrorists to drug cartels — are acting with impunity.

Yet I am confident America is strong enough to take on these challenges and thrive: not becau💃se of our leaders or political parties but because of our people and our families.

This is the core of ou💧r strength and what ಌwe need to cherish and nurture.

The protection of our families starts w꧅ith education.

Contrary to what many misguided teachers’ unions may claim, our children are not wards of the state.

Parents alone possess the God-given ❀authority to direct the education of their children and have a fundamental right, indeed a moral re𝓀sponsibility, to be involved in important educational decisions.

We ne꧒ed to encourage more — not🗹 less — parental engagement.

We saw during the COVID pandemic what happens when activists an✱d special-interest groups are given priority over parents and families: 𝔍lockdowns and learning loss.

When parents g🤪et involved, though, good things happen.

The more we involve parents and families, the better our entire educational 🗹system will become and the stronger our families will be.

So read to your kids, get involved in your local PTA, run for the school board, or ꧑just volunteer to help in your kids’ classroom.

Education is not solely about math rea꧋ding and history; it is what parents teach their children about peﷺrsonal responsibility, our Judeo-Christian nation, and their place in preserving American civilization.

Religious freedom and our religious institutions are also essential to strengthenin🎉g our families𒊎.

It is within the safe, private෴ space of the family that children first learn how to interact with and love others, and it is where our religious ♏faith is nurtured each day.

Our Founders believed deeply in the importance of faith — indeed, John Adams himsel🔯f once said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.”

They understood that religious institutions alone — churches, synagogues, mosques, and more — are truly capable of providing moral guidance and direction and the entire nation suffers when these sacred s🔯paces are corrupted or attacked.

Trag꧃ically, we are witnessing just these attacks today, with private and public actors who are hostile to religious expression fueling a dangerous rise of antisemitism.

To strengthen our families, we must dedicate ourselves to upholding true freedom of religion — rather than freedom from religion — and rediscover the fundamental impo♚rtance of faith to our country.

Ult♔imately, strong families are our greatest defense against an overbearing, tyrannical government𒊎.

As Russell Kirk once wrote, “The traditional family . . . gives us those roots without which we all would be just so many lonely little atoms of humanity, unprincipled and at the mercy of some iron🗹 political domination.”

In every dangerous totalitarian government throughout history — fascist, communist, or otherwise — you will find that centra❀l to its governing philosophy was the destruction of the family.

In🧔deed, what has always set the United States apart is that far from being marked by blind devotion to the stat𓆏e, American patriotism is characterized by a unique commitment to faith and family.

To st🔥r🍌engthen our institutions and our democracy, we must put our families first.

America’s future — and our ability to ensure America’s greatness for the next 250 years — depends on ♋the strength of our families, and our nation has always understood and defended this commonsense belief.

This week, as we spend time with our loved ones, let’s be thankful we live in a country where this continues toಌ be tr🤪ue.

Have a wonderful Thanksgi🍃ving, and may God bless you and your family!

Mike Pompeo is a former United States secretary of state.