Something Extraordinary for Which to Be Thankful

In this season, our thanks to God should be much broader than turkey, football, and family. The real reason for thanksgiving originates in the history of a small colony called Plymouth. 

The Pilgrims and others arrived in 1620 on the Mayflower, at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. Of the 101 who arrived, about half died within the first few months due to malnutrition and illness. Making matters worse, the investors and leaders of the Plymouth Plantation project insisted, against the wishes of the Pilgrims, on communal property and work.

In 1623, William Bradford arrived as Governor. He reported the community was afflicted by an unwillingness to work, by confusion and discontent, by a loss of mutual respect, and by a prevailing sense of slavery and injustice. Everyone owned everything. All things were shared in common.

Bradford instituted a change. He assigned to every man property. The property was his to work and profit. He and he alone would enjoy the fruits of his labor or suffer to consequences or lack thereof. Bradford records the assigning of private property resulted in “very good success.” 

Private property led to the success of individuals and their community. And, it has become the cornerstone of what would become history’s most extraordinary and prosperous nation. 

I lived in Moscow, Russia for 14 years in the 80’s and 90’s. I can testify how the communal socialist experiment forced upon a nation by communist dictators was devastating. I observed empty shelves in government-run stores. I observed how people lived in poor quality, government-owned apartments. I traveled the over-crowded, dilapidated, government-run transportation system. I struggled to find gasoline because of a corrupt distribution network. And I could go on.

I am thankful to be a citizen of the United States of America. It is a nation built upon Godly principles, capitalism, private property rights, and law and order. Government systems of socialism/communism have never worked anywhere in history. They have never been chosen by thinking, educated people. They will end in failure and misery wherever foolish uneducated people may be tried in the future.

Be thankful for turkey. Be thankful for football. Always be thankful for family.

Above all, be thankful that you live in this nation.