With the Thanksgiving holiday in the rear view mirror, we can get past the carving of a turkey; the stuffing and sweet potatoes; and many slices of pumpkin pie that almost all of us happily consumed. But how many of us know or appreciate that Thanksgiving really celebrates the failure of socialism and the birth of private enterprise and personal initiative in America?
With all the calls for a “democratic” socialism and paternalistic government to be established in the United States, it is worth remembering the first attempt to put in place a form of economic collectivism in early American history. It brought about disastrous consequences for the Pilgrims after they settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts.