What’s your favorite part of Thanksgiving? Is it coming together with relatives you haven’t seen in a while? Is it appreciating all the good things in your life? Is it stuffing down a week’s worth of food in a measly six hours? For some, it’s the distinct lack of politics—of coming together, no matter the differences in beliefs, and celebrating a family holiday.
For other, more sadistic types, this is the perfect opportunity to spark that political discussion you’ve been itching to have all year. All your favorite relatives gathered around one table—your weird drunk uncle, your incredibly liberal aunt, your Catholic parents and the 96-year-old grandma who hasn’t voted since Reagan was elected. The perfect setting—a keg of powder just waiting to be ignited.
And the ignition? You.
For example, you could bring up the recent midterm elections. The House was actually taken by the Democrats, which means the Republicans are no longer in complete control over the government. Whether you agree with this change or not, this is going to have a huge effect on the way the government runs for the next two years. Why not use this as a jumping off point? You could talk about the record number of women who were elected to the House—96 compared to the previous record of 85. You could talk about Sharice Davids, a Native American woman and the first openly LGBT member of Congress. You could talk about one of the closest Senate races in Texas ever between Beto O’Rourke and Ted Cruz. You could talk about Colorado’s first openly gay governor.
The midterm elections are chock-full of material to fan that political fire with, but if that’s not your style, maybe you could just talk about Jeff Sessions “retiring” (being fired) and what effect that might have on the Mueller investigation. You could talk about the various billionaires who have the financial power to end world hunger ten times over but won’t (looking at you, Jeff Bezos).
Or maybe, you could bring up how loud the voices of young people have become. You could challenge that uncle who tells you your opinion doesn’t matter because it’s the young people who are changing this country we will one day inherit.