Meanwhile, while people a few blocks away lack food on Thanksgiving, U.S. officials are spending billions in taxpayer money to help the Iraqi people and also to give expanded health-care benefits to seniors.

Some people might suggest that these actions reflect the caring and compassionate nature of the American people. They would be only half right. The difference between the Sodexho action and that of the government is the difference between night and day. The former is based on the voluntary action of a private company using its own assets while the latter is the coercive action of government officials using money that has been plundered from the American people.

In other words, the Sodexho action reflects freedom, which is one of the important blessings we’ll be counting on Thanksgiving. The government action, on the other hand, constitutes an abrogation of freedom.

To more clearly appreciate how far America has strayed in its understanding and appreciation of freedom, let’s keep in mind the freedom that Americans were celebrating in, say, 1890, when American society had little or no: income tax, welfare, foreign aid, Federal Reserve System, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, drug laws, gun control, immigration controls, economic regulations, economic crimes, foreign interventions, or foreign wars.

In the eyes of those Americans, it was the fundamental right of people to keep everything they earned and to decide what to do with it — donate, spend, save, hoard, or invest it. Equally important, they understood that compassion meant nothing unless it came from the willing heart of the individual. The result was not only the wealthiest society in history but also the most charitable.

Compare that with the “freedom” that Americans now celebrate: the “freedom” to be taken care of by their government from birth to death, along with the “freedom” to have their incomes nationalized, with the government deciding how much to take in order to give it away to others. Equally important, Americans today celebrate the socialization and nationalization of their individual consciences, permitting the government to determine their collective goodness by its distribution of political goodies to others.

Thus, on this Thanksgiving Day, when our country is rife with chaos, tension, conflict, and war, this is as good a time as any to reflect upon what happens to a country that abandons its heritage and its principles. Let’s just be thankful that our ancestors showed us the vision to get back on track.

Mr. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. Send him email.