Black Friday, shoppers’ annual gluttonous safari spanning shopping malls and just about any outlet with a cash register, was officially yesterday.

But for some, and in a trend seemingly gaining more traction, the shopping wingding began on Thanksgiving, a retail faux pas according to some of the even most ardent of Black Friday shoppers. Wal-Mart, Sears, Toys R Us and Target all welcomed bargain hunters, and more importantly their money, shortly after the last morsel of turkey and cranberry were digested.

Although many shoppers were thrilled to jumpstart the season, employees were not so enthusiastic at the prospect of working on what is considered to be the doorstep of the Christmas season. Retailers electing to open on Thanksgiving Day were derided by their labor forces and some members of the public for having the audacity to ring a register on what is generally considered a sacrosanct holiday.

True to today’s society a website was launched to protest the openings, and unions, as is their wont, delivered warnings brimming with diatribe but short on substance. In today’s litigious-minded society, lawsuits, followed by petitions to Congress for government intervention, are the natural next steps. Hopefully, logic will override emotion.

Easter Sunday and Good Friday, two of the most sacred holidays for Christians, are no problem, but let’s not permit commerce to interfere with the fourth Thursday of November, critics appear to be saying.

For the government, or even a union, to mandate when a retailer can open would strike a dagger to the very heart of the free enterprise system. The decision by Wal-Mart and others to force employees to work Thanksgiving Day may be morally disgusting but they clearly have the legal right to do so.

Some of the naysayers are often the same individuals who see noting wrong with playing a quick 18 holes of golf at a course that is open, or taking his or her family to a restaurant for turkey and the trimmings rather than cook at home. During the course of the day they may even require the life-saving services of an emergency responder, whether it be a police officer, firefighter or EMT.

Yet one barely hears a whimper from any of those professions.

Any employee works at the whim or his or her employer, and if someone decides to open Thanksgiving Day, then the employees must fall in line. It’s called the free market and is the foundation upon which this country’s economy thrives.

One may decide to support or not support a retailer that is open Thanksgiving Day, but no one has the right to challenge the decision of the business owner. At least not legally.

Morally is a debate for another court.