Centuries ago, our ancestors endured unimaginable challenges and hardships in the new world, not yet called America. A group of 100 pilgrims sought a new world where they could enjoy religious and political freedom. This new world was cold, barren, and desolate. Many died that first winter but eventually they grew and thrived. Thanksgiving was a day when they thanked God for their blessings.

Today as we approach another Thanksgiving, our elected leaders, of both parties, seek to reverse time, sending those they represent, back to a cold, barren, desolate world with death and misery, the world of COVID lockdowns.

A holiday thanking God for abundance, freedom, and liberty will this year will instead rub everyone’s noses in what those brave pilgrims sought to escape back in the 1600s, namely persecution and tyranny.

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A group of seven US governors, five Democrats and two Republicans, wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post proclaiming, “Americans need to stay home this Thanksgiving.” For the past nine months, we have been following guidelines and mandates from these governors to slow or stop the spread of COVID. It started with “15 days to slow the spread” back in March.

Americans dutifully stayed home and washed our hands, as government experts told us. Did we slow the spread or exacerbate it? A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that draconian quarantine measures with strict social distancing and constant mask wearing did not stop the spread of COVID in their study population of Marine recruits. These measures may have actually exacerbated the spread of COVID as the control group of non-participants had almost half the rate of COVID positivity at the end of the study compared to those under strict rules.

But our governors and health experts know better. Safety measures they imposed on us for months worked so well that nine months into the pandemic, COVID is still not under control. Or at least positive tests are not. As the governors recommend,

With Thanksgiving around the corner, we urge all Americans to stay smart and follow recommendations from medical experts: Get together with your family via Zoom to ensure your loved ones stay safe. If you are planning to spend Thanksgiving with people outside your household, we urge you to reconsider

The three governors/stooges of the West Coast are taking it a step further.

Those who do travel into one of the West Coast states from another part of the U.S. or from a country overseas are encouraged to quarantine for 14 days, according to the advisories. Meanwhile, residents of California, Oregon and Washington have been encouraged to stick close to home and refrain from interacting with people they do not live with to prevent further spread of the virus.

How soon until the word “encouraged” morphs into “required”? Will the governors adhere to the rules themselves, setting a good example for the hoi polloi they lord over?

Following the diktats of the ruling class, “Do as I say, not as I do,” California Governor Gavin Newsom hosted a fancy dinner party at a “posh Napa Valley restaurant” when “neither Newsom nor any of the 12 guests wore face masks during the Nov. 6 birthday bash for the governor’s political adviser.”

Will members of Congress remain in Washington D.C. for Thanksgiving, or will they return home, along with family joining, traveling from wherever, in defiance of the edicts of the ruling class governors?

Before travel was ubiquitous, most families lived in close proximity to each other and celebrating Thanksgiving or Christmas required only a short car ride. Now families are scattered across America, requiring airplane travel, making Thanksgiving weekend the busiest travel time of the year.

Modern families are far removed from The Waltons and Thanksgiving is a time for families to reunite, even if long distance travel is required. It makes sense to follow common sense precautions to protect the elderly and vulnerable, but families can and should make these decisions themselves, not via edicts handed down from on high.

We currently have a surge in positive tests with test sensitivity so high that the vast majority of those testing positive, as the New York Times explained, are not true cases.

The standard tests are diagnosing huge numbers of people who may be carrying relatively insignificant amounts of the virus. Most of these people are not likely to be contagious and identifying them may contribute to bottlenecks that prevent those who are contagious from being found in time.

Hospitalizations are up now as it’s easier to get into the hospital compared to last spring when unless on death’s doorstep, patients were told to ride it out at home. Now we have therapeutics, better ways of preventing respiratory failure, and excess hospital beds. It makes sense to admit patients earlier to the hospital to keep them out of the ICU.

Deaths due to COVID are uncertain due to the vague distinction between death “with” versus “due to” COVID. All we are then left with are rising positive tests followed by lockdowns and restrictions.

Nine months of draconian rules and restrictions, now with a “surge” demonstrates that nothing can be done to stop the spread of the virus other than protecting the elderly and vulnerable, and that masks and distancing have accomplished little other than making everyone miserable.

Rather than a day of Thanksgiving, we will be served a misery turkey with side dishes of anxiety and depression. Most of America suffers COVID fatigue and now we are being told to get used to our new normal.

College students are urged not to go home for Thanksgiving, adding to their bizarre semesters learning in front of a computer rather than in a classroom, missing out on the social aspects of college.

Business owners hoping to end the year on a positive note are being told to close again, which for many will be for good. Families eager to hug each other will be kept apart.

Why can’t America be thankful for two highly effective vaccines developed in record time. Or no recent terror attacks or new foreign wars. Instead, we are being beaten like dogs, just like those in dictatorships and Orwellian dystopias. Do what we say, or else.

It’s almost as if elected officials want everyone to be miserable as we head into the most joyous of holiday seasons, Thanksgiving and Christmas. If the goal is to demoralize and dispirit America, they are succeeding beyond their wildest dreams.

Brian C. Joondeph, M.D., is a Denver-based physician and freelance writer for American Thinker, Rasmussen Reports, and other publications. Follow him on Facebook,  LinkedIn, Twitter, Parler, and QuodVerum.