Thanksgiving: a story unfolds

From "Old England" the Pilgrims barely made it to America through treacherous waters. They established the Plymouth Colony in today's New England in 1620.

As reflected in their Mayflower Compact, the first instinct of the surviving Pilgrims was to go on surviving collectively. All for one and one for all. Sharing and caring sounded so promising. Soon enough, the Colony turned itself into a collective farm. An authority came into being, centrally planning and regulating everything for everybody. A people's commune debuted in the name of God.

Playing God, the authority ran afoul of human nature. Folks fought central planning like hell. They insisted on keeping what they labored for---after tax. That way, they reasoned, free producers would be much more able to help the less fortunate. After all, as the proverb goes, "charity begins at home." With it, a homegrown idea of small government loomed big. Personal liberty became respectable.

That's when and where the spirit of free enterprise was coming into play among the Pilgrims, which in due course underlied the Declaration of Independence of 1776
 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Author: renqiulan 

所有跟帖： 

• 沙发！秋兰，感恩节快乐！占位点赞。：）） -盈盈一笑间- ♀ (215 bytes) () 11/23/2023 postreply 17:49:42

• Happy Black Friday to you! -renqiulan- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 06:35:37

• All for one and one for all. 人人为我，我为人人。秋兰好文！ -暖冬cool夏- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/23/2023 postreply 18:48:33

• Thank you! That motto comes from "The Three Musketeers." -renqiulan- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 06:37:58

• 秋兰，Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for the Thanksgiving story! -CBA7- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/23/2023 postreply 20:26:23

• From "Old England" to New England, -CBA7- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/23/2023 postreply 20:30:17

• the spirit of free enterprise is the key. -CBA7- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/23/2023 postreply 20:32:28

• We may not be living among the Pilgrims, but the Pilgrims -renqiulan- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 06:40:34

• are always living among us, figuratively speaking. -renqiulan- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 06:41:30

• Happy Black Friday to you! -renqiulan- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 06:39:16

• Thank you! My Friday is sunny and warm, not black at all :) -CBA7- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 21:03:51

• Thanks for introducing the origin of “free enterprise “ -方外居士- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/23/2023 postreply 20:57:19

• Happy Black Friday to you. Yes, free enterprise is the -renqiulan- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 06:43:00

• greatest Thanksgiving gift for Americans. -renqiulan- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 06:44:08

• In the journey to Boston this summer, I visited the place -盈盈一笑间- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 05:58:12

• where the Mayflower landed and reflected on American history -盈盈一笑间- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 05:58:53

• of that time. Also on my travel, I met a local American -盈盈一笑间- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 06:02:49

• couple whose daughter-in-law is of Chinese descent and -盈盈一笑间- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 06:03:13

• a graduate of MIT. I even got a Thanksgiving greeting from -盈盈一笑间- ♀ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 06:04:02

• them yesterday. -盈盈一笑间- ♀ (143 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 06:04:23

• So you're close to my neighborhood. Such a small world! -renqiulan- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 06:46:14

• Happy Thanksgiving! -卫宁- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 07:48:58

• Thank you! I wish you every success and happiness. -renqiulan- ♂ (0 bytes) () 11/24/2023 postreply 20:56:31