A tip to Tip O’Neill: In America, it’s OK to be friends again

Don’t worry progressives, it’s after 6 p.m. somewhere

Tip O’Neil applauds his friend Ronald Reagan: It’s after 6 p.m. somewhere!

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Several years ago, I wrote a Thanksgiving column about giving thanks to political opponents, primarily because giving thanks to political opponents means that there are opponents to give thanks to:

It means we live in a democracy, which is defined by point and counterpoint, by thesis and antithesis, by majoritarian thought and the protection of dissident opinion. It means we live in a place where we are allowed to live at all, that is to say, to live freely.

I reiterate the thought this week in the wake of a decisive national election that has sent so many into celebration, but which has sent many others into panic because they somehow believe they will be curated, canceled, oppressed, or even imprisoned.

To the former camp, there is indeed much to celebrate and much to give thanks for. As actress and filmmaker Justine Bateman said after the election, it feels like we can breathe again after four years of walking on eggshells.

The heaviness on our chests and throats actually goes back much further, to the beginning of Barack Obama’s first term in office. That’s when the captains of woke began to commandeer the levers of power in this nation and strive not only to tell us what to think but to set limits on what we could say and write, regardless of what we thought.

Write the wrong thing, and there could have been a hate crime trial in your future, or one for insurrection.

The gag order has been officially lifted.