It is because our people have the freedom to improve themselves, without artificial barriers, that our nation is the greatest, most powerful, most advanced country in the world. For some, the ideal has come more slowly than the theory. The vile institutions of slavery, racial segregation and ethnic discrimination, not to mention our country's mistreatment of the Native American inhabitants of this land, remind us that we are not perfect and must constantly strive to improve. But we are better today for the struggles of the past to reach the ideal of equality enshrined in our founding documents. We are fortunate not to have a societal caste system or feudal system where everyone falls into a class from which neither they nor their children could ever advance.
Barriers remain, but they are no longer written in stone.
On this Thanksgiving, let's give thanks for our freedom and the ideals toward which we strive.