Be thankful for corporate greed, Sarah Palin and lint

It’s that time of the year again, when (you guessed it) we all should reflect on what to be thankful for. True, the pickings seem a little slimmer this year, with the economy and all. But take heart. Here are a few things that I offer for your consideration:

Be thankful for Sarah Palin. Conservatives love to love her. Liberals love to hate her. Regardless of how you feel, one thing is for sure: She is certainly a unique individual, and life is more interesting with her around. Or at least more bewildering.

Be thankful for greed, corporate conquest and Madison Avenue. If you believe conservative economists, these capitalist forces created America’s economic expansion over the past 70 years – leading it to achieve the world’s greatest standard of living and become its greatest power. Until things collapsed last fall. At which point, everything became Barack Obama’s fault.

Be thankful for unions, social progressivism and World War II. Some would argue that these forces, in fact, are what led to living wages, child labor laws, Social Security, civil rights reforms, accessibility to higher education and a remarkable growth in the standard of living for Americans. Not to mention the fact that WW II made ruins of much of the planet, leaving the U.S. as the last nation standing to rebuild everything, grow its economy and rake in big bucks.

Be thankful that Benjamin Franklin failed in his bid to make the turkey the national bird. This would have made the obese fowl off-limits to our carving knives on Thanksgiving Day. And that most likely would have made meatloaf our chosen holiday meal. Just think, ketchup instead of cranberry sauce. Using Hamburger Helper, instead of Aunt Marge’s turkey roasting recipe with 15 ingredients. Twenty minutes in the oven, instead of hours of slavish labor to prepare a bird. Come to think of it, meatloaf sounds pretty good.

Be thankful for lint. In these economically tough times, it feels good to have at least something in our pockets.