Out in Seatlle, I believe, there's apparently a movement to teach kids how horrible it was that the Pilgrims came over and started the whole white man's thing. It kind of overlooks the fact that the Indian tribes were pretty much constantly fighting for land long before we arrived, and the supposed ecologically sensitive American Indians were just as bad (if not worse) for the land as the newcomers were. (When a main method of hunting buffalo requires you to run the whole herd off a cliff, you're not worrying too much about long-term effects on the buffalo population.) (Of course, what WE did to the buffalo population was just was bad, and let's not even talk about the passenger pigeon...)
But the Pilgrims? Well, let's just review the historical record.
The Tragedy of the Commons indeed. It's funny how much more is produced when the people involved have a personal stake in the result.
RealClearPolitics - Articles - The Tragedy of the CommonsEvery year around this time, schoolchildren are taught about that wonderful day when Pilgrims and Native Americans shared the fruits of the harvest. "Isn't sharing wonderful?" say the teachers.
They miss the point.
Because of sharing, the first Thanksgiving in 1623 almost didn't happen.
The failure of Soviet communism is only the latest demonstration that freedom and property rights, not sharing, are essential to prosperity. The earliest European settlers in America had a dramatic demonstration of that lesson, but few people today know it.
It's an interesting little bit of history - and not one that'll be loudly proclaimed to the small fry...
J.
Comments (2)
The 'Marietta Daily Journal' has opened up online comments to their articles and letters to the editor. Here's one of the more deranged. (The subject was immigration, but I think the writer would have similar opinions on Thanksgiving.)
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Now that the moccasin is on the other foot, how does it feel. It seems at one time there was a nation of people that felt the same as you do. They did their best to preserve a way of life and customs from the invasion of the boat people. In a country that was founded on religious freedom, the first thing you did was take ours away. Forced a way of life upon us that was foreign. Pushed our people to the edge of non-existence. And yes punish us if we spoke our native language in our own country. “If you live in the United States of America, learn our rules and ways and live by them. Our language is English. Learn it and use it!” At one time maybe it was Algonquian, Cherokee, Creek, Kiowa or Osage, were the only languages spoken in the country. No English isn’t the native tongue of this nation. It funny that this comes at a time when many thought we should have eaten the pilgrims and fed the turkeys.“ If it wasn’t for the native people of this country the colony at Plymouth would have starved to death. What did we get in return, lol, small pox, diphtheria, cholera, the list goes on and on. To many, all of you are illegally immigrants, lol. Funny thing is that I agree with you, “They should go back to their country of origin and stay there until they can come to the United States legally and be able to support themselves and their families.”
Lance A. Dodd
Posted by F451 | November 22, 2007 9:52 AM
Posted on November 22, 2007 09:52
Clayton Cramer has a dissent from John Stossel's article:
http://claytoncramer.com/weblog/2007_11_18_archive.html#2547811678011468932
Posted by F451 | November 23, 2007 8:53 AM
Posted on November 23, 2007 08:53