The Pilgrims and Property Rights or, How our Ancestors Got Fat and Happy
by Reason TV
The Pilgrims founded their colony at Plymouth Plantation in December 1620 and promptly started dying off in droves.
As the colony’s early governor, William Bradford, wrote in “Of Plymouth Plantation“:
That which was most sadd & lamentable was, that in 2. or 3. moneths time halfe of their company dyed.
When the settlers finally stopped croaking, they set about creating a heaven on earth, a society without private property, where all worked for the common good. Everything was shared. Especially bitching and moaning about working for the common good. Bradford again:
Yong-men that were most able and fitte for labour and service did repine that they should spend their time and streingth to worke for other mens wives and children, with out any recompense….And for men’s wives to be commanded to doe service for other men, as dresing their meate, washing their cloaths, etc., they deemed it a kind of slavery, neither could many husbands well brooke it.
With nobody working, everybody was suffering. And in case you think nobody was working simply because they couldn’t understand a damn thing Bradford was saying, chew on this: In 1623, Bradford and the other leaders
…assigned to every family a parceel of land…this had very good success; for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more torne was planted then other waise would have bene by any means the Govr or any other could use, and saved him a great deall of trouble, and gave farr better contente.
In no time at all
any generall wante of famine hath not been amongest them since to this day.
America would never go hungry again. So this week, before you drift into your annual tryptophan-induced coma, don’t forget to give thanks to the true patron of this holiday feast: property rights.
For more on this, go here. For a contrary take on whether the Pilgrims were proto-socialists, go here.
Approximately 2.30 minutes.
Produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie. Voices by Meredith Bragg and Austin Bragg.
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62 Comments
This was very funny, but someone will have to explain the graphic at the end to me.
Give a man a job, let him fend for himself, he will be proud and prosperous.
Give a man free food and housing, he will waste away.
400 years later nothing has changed.
The Pilgrims persevered through their Faith in God Amighty. As my brother Myamato once said "you must have an indominitable spirit and an iron will to thrive and survive". Americans are (were?) the epitome of this expression of the Human Soul. Let's return, shall we?
++Hanzo++
Happy Thanksgiving to all of the intelligent posters here, and the trolls to.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family also, and to every one on the Big Sites.
Nobody will out work someone who owns what they have and wants to keep it. Nobody
Love how he pronounced the "Olde Tyme" (oldee timey) Englishe. It did mine hearte goode to bringe forthe a humble chuckle from mine own loins.
"someone will have to explain the graphic at the end to me"
A bunch of Marx's devoted fans sitting down to a meal their socialist "utopias" could never produce.
A little strange, but I guess it's a stab at the irony of it all.
Now that would be Giving Thanks
May everyone have Happy Thanks "Giving" In-Laws, Out-Laws, and all
God bless us all
Great job. I love the work at Reason. tv.
I suppose this is proof that we are human and there is a God. We are truly dual beings– we are more productive and prosperous when engaging in our own self-interest AND we also want to benefit common society and help those in need.
The misunderstanding and mental wrestling we do between these two core ideals has created basically all of our common societal problems for the last 400 years. Good video.
Give a man free food and housing and he'll be your slave 'til he dies…
and that is the aim of the NWO…
Yeah, Ol' Karl in the background is creeping me out…!
I can't remember who said it (Ted Nugent, maybe?): Communism will never succeed because people like to own stuff.
Yup.
I'm sure the trolls are touched. Which means you need to be quarantined. : )
Property rights???!!!
What!
No.
Government provided healthcare is our right.
Not property.
Healthcare, apparently is something you 'deserve', therefore, it's a right.
Property is something that someone earned; therefore, it is not a right.
Got it!
Good.
Happy Thanksgiving all. Y'all are in my top five when blessings are counted.
Their touched all-right, especially if the traveled to grandmas on a airplane.
I am already quarantined
Sounds like Ted.
Have a great and happy Thanksgiving everyone,…..
as for me,..I am going to start my 4-day weekend,………
having a couple at my old neighborhood bar with old friends.
As one of the few here at the BIG's that is still in the occupation of producing food for the masses
I would like to thank all my fellow Bigsters for the wonderful life you have allowed me to lead.
Producing food and fiber for the US citizenry is a noble and fulfilling job.
~HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL~
Come Friday, eat more beef!
.
Same here…on the road tomorrow (10-11 hr drive) and back on Sunday…be safe and enjoy the family time!!!
Support your local farmer.
Thanks corn.
May you and yours have a Happy Thanksgiving, and remember what it is really about. Stay safe and warm.
It is 30 below here today with the windchill. There was about 18 inches of snow, but I think it blew down to Wyoming and the Dakotas. The wind is howling out of the northwest, and we haven't been able to see three hundred yards away for almost two days. Winter has come to Montana. I heard on the weather that all the brass monkeys were headed to Florida.
Take care my friend.
Old progressive saying:
Teach a man to fish and he does not need you any longer.
Feed a man a fish and he needs you for a lifetime.
OBAMA IMPEACHABLE FOR SIDING WITH A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32zWBdS_VMA
A US Senator says……..
Hey CL, and I say Support your local rancher.
Thank you kind sir for your "warm" wishes. May I offer them right back to you.
Please have a blessed Thanksgiving.
Sounds like you're the one who needs to worry about safe and warm, -30 ain't nothin to sneeze
about.
I hope you have a warm fire and plenty of reading material, in that case I will envy you.
That dang Norther is supposed to come through here some time before morning. No moisture pre-
dicted for us though. 16 degrees in the morning after 60's this afternoon. Burrrrrrr…
I spent the afternoon getting ready for the cold couple of nights we are predicted to have. A heat
lamp on the pressure switch on the well, just to make sure we have water in the morning. Not good
to be preparing TG dinner with no water, donchakno?;-D
You take care as well, friend.
.
What an absolutely awesome video. Reason.tv is the best! Great stuff! Happy Thanksgiving All!
Please remember to support our troops this holiday season!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIoEUTqhYmA
Wise words goldman, and very apt for our times.
In Australia, our version of Thanksgiving is Australia Day, January 26th.
It's when the First Fleet landed and started to build my great country.
From one great country to another, have a terrific Thanksgiving and God Bless.
Here is one of our great Australian's extolling the virtues of our national dish. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHH0Ebke-lU
I would offer that for too long people took for granted that the spirit would maintain itself. That it just came naturally without protection and nurturing. Many looked at those who preached their collectivist progressive -ism as kooks that nobody would really listen to. Far too many of us took for granted that common sense was more common than it is today. Incrementalism has taken its toll, no doubt. But the American Spirit, that giant, has been awakened and she is none to happy about what took place during her nap time. Lady Liberty is on the march and she will run over all who stand in her way.
From the descendant of a long line of Scots-Irish farmers, allow me to offer thanks to both… no, make that, all of you folks who toil to feed the nation and the world.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving my fellow Americans.
We are all very fortunate, to live where we do and when we do. I'm just a working class guy, living in a small apartment, but I'm probably better off than 98% of all the people who have ever lived, because I'm an American and I can make my own circumstances. I give thanks every day.
Sorry, just had to say that. Best to all.
PS – don't forget to listen to Alice's Restaurant
Praise be to everyone…………………..and bless you……………………while we all give Thanks.
I'll be hitting the road……….over the river and through the woods……………to mom & dad's house i go.
Have a safe and Happy Holiday.
Thank you Andrew………….for providing these forums we use to express our angst……………. and Thanks.
Thank You very much Thale, the Nations farmers appreciate your gracious recognition.
Have a blessed day tomorrow…
.
Be safe and Happy Thanksiving to all. Lets remember why our forefathers gave thanks. They were FREE from tyranny in a land that was fresh and clean and gave them hope.
Do we have hope? YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!
Great video, and profound, if one chooses to take the lesson. However the parasite class will have their fingers in their ears, eyes closed, going na-na-na… This would mean getting a real job. Great and true story.
Happy Turkey Day!
http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=a...
Rights Schmites. What did Madison and Jefferson know anyway.
JOS you have lost your red badge and are moving steadily positive!
You make beef?
How about that, my favorite thing to do in the whole world is cook and eat beef.
We must talk.
Well we share a favored passion then Harry. I also love to cook and eat beef. In fact this is the
first TG that I will be fixing a turkey in many years. For several years we have had a standing
rib-roast for TG dinner.
Actually Cowboy Logic raises the beef, I raise the corn that they eat that makes the meat have
that beautiful flavor.
Have you ever eaten grass-fed beef? YUK!
I'm ready to discuss beef preparation any time.
.
Corn,
you are right. All those dudes who advocate "free range" and "grass fed" beef have never eaten it. You are right about the "yuk" factor. You can't chew it. The longer you chew it, the tougher it gets. Every once in a while, while working cattle, I;ll have on kill itself for one reason or another. Normally they will break their neck in the chute. I salvage everything, but grind the whole carcass into hamburger. Pricey hamburg.
Give thanks every day FOR my family, my friends, my country, my health…the thanks are TO My Creator, for providing all I need and helping me learn from each and every one.
Grab your beers, everyone – Here's to the farmers…Thanks, from the well-fed masses
Agree CL, free range means tough meat in my estimation. My dad was a cattle raiser all
his life so I realize the crazy SOB's have a knack for committing suicide while being
'worked'. Their eyes roll back in their head and they just go berzerk sometimes.
You're right, it's some pricey hamburger, but there's nothing in the store that will compare
to the flavor. Do you age your beef before it's butchered. My dad used to take me into
the local butcher shop to 'look' at our beef hanging and aging before it was cut up. I was
too young to remember how long he aged it. We don't even have a butcher here in this
county any longer.
Yes. I do.
When it is winter, depending how cold it is, I'll just let them hang in the shop for ten to fourteen days. It is for hamburg, I;ll still hang it a while. If it is summer, there isn't much choice but to grind it. I have a frien in town who is a pretty good shade tree butcher. He'll come out and help me. We just hang it on a front end loader on the tractor, and process it, and quarter it.
It's pretty crude. We aint IBP, Cactus Cattle Feeders, or Classic Cattle Company by any stretch of the imagination. But we get by. Those range fed ones that end up casualties, a guy can only eat so much hamburger. I had the last one ground up into beef sticks. 600 lbs of beef sticks goes a long, long way. Especially at 2 bucks a pound.
Yes I prefer corn fed, grass fed I find too gamey.
I like cooking in general but live to barbecue and there's nothing like a good brisket, and I have a pretty good process. So far I have done one 100 person event which is a lot of people – for a non professional as I am. Next year we are shooting for 200.
Standing Rib Roast – dry aged and smoke roasted, mmm.
Homemade pastrami, nothing like it.
Then we go into the world of steaks… so many choices…
Yes but this is turkey time of year.
Which can be good also don't get me wrong….
Gotta hit they hay, cooking tomorrow!
So you grow the corn and CL the cows. Makes me pine for a real job you know, me being a desk jockey for the most part. You make me jealous truth be told.
Happy thxgiving to you both!
My friend.
When you count your blessings, count yourself first.
It is people like you, who make US great.
A working class guy, living in a small apartment, paying his taxes, and doing his part; being an informed citizen, is what this is all about. You are right you are better off than most. At the end of the day, you can come home to your own comfortable surroundings, have a good meal in the warmth and comfort of your home, and relax. It doesn't get much better than that.
I want to thank YOU.
LOL, yes you can only eat so much of the ground stuff, especially when you have a
freezer full of steak and roast. My folks wanted only the minimum of the beef ground,
and that was coarse ground for chili. I bet some chili would be good tomorrow when
it's 41 degrees here. We're sposed to bounce back to the 60's in just a couple of days
though.
Speaking of shade tree butchers, I've seen the Mexicans around here on the side of
the road butchering a steer that died in some farmers wheat field and was dragged
to the county road to be picked up by the rendering plant's truck. YUK, again.
.
Ha,ha,loved the video because it's what I call "dry humor". I especially love humor that entertains while at the same time making a valid point. In the case of this video the point is socialism SUCKED in 1620 and it still SUCKS in 2010. At any rate Happy Thanksgiving to all !!!
Hear, Hear.
Who gives us property rights? We need property to be our own, but Who gave us property to begin with? Who gave us life and gave us bread?
Give thanks to Him first, then property rights second.
Don't know what to say Cowboy, thanks doesn't cover it.
Although I will say this (I'm finding my voice again), I think we all know who we should grateful to – the men and women who started this country, the men (and the women standing behind them saying "Make sure you get this right") who, instead of making this country their own little kingdom, threw the doors open and gave citizens individual rights and freedoms, self-governance, and the right to conduct free enterprise. Because of them, so much is attainable, and anything is possible.
God Bless.
The first of many failed experiments in socialism, when will they ever learn?
Happy Thanksgiving. God Bless America.
From George Washingston: First Thanksgiving Proclamation http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/GW/gw004.html
And to you and yours and all my new friends on the Bigs. We are not alone!
Hanzo…Bravo…^^^^^
Linked: http://wizbangblog.com/content/2010/11/25/thanksg...
If u want to find out why recent biggoo "michaelpfleger" -page has this new vat-i-can "Error 404 – Not Found" address…
…see my 'anti social' comments, profile at http://intensedebate.com/people/korpisoturi
But, I haven't changed my message or my point of view.
Odd.
No, sometimes wisdom come in unexpected packages.
You keep doing what you doing brother, I do the same. Hope I can buy you a beer someday.
Sorry, as much as I love Reason (& von Mises), this is a stretch. The Pilgrims were part of a company. The NYT article also exhibits an extreme view, that the Pilgrims were proto-capitalism. Neither was the case. The colony at Plimoth Plantation was a group of contractees (who sought religious liberty from the Anglican Church) who found themselves in an unfamiliar and trying circumstances. Human reaction to threats is to retreat to authoritarianism/statism. That's the lesson that libertarians should draw from Plimoth (that's the correct spelling, BTW.): statism thrives on crisis.
BTW, just spent Thanksgiving Day at Plimoth Plantation, so that's why I'm so knowledgy about it.
I highly recommend a visit to the site: the role players were fantastic and very approachable. I wish my kids were more interested.
This is basically another tale of "give a man to fish he'll eat today, teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime." Though I don't see this as proof that there is a God, I am under the impression that faith is a cornerstone behind the belief in (vs knowledge of) God. Since proof makes faith obsolete by changing it to fact, it would seem to me that proof isn't something one with faith would want or need.
Faith is what one has when absolute knowledge does not exist. Faith isn't a desired state in and of itself.
Concerning my reasoning on proof of God, if we are simply biological creations, then why would feel a spiritual connection to someone we don't know or are not related to? And then take that connection to the point of helping perfect strangers…i.e. Haitians after earthquake, Thais after tsunami, etc.
In an evolutionary sense, religion is a waste of time and resources. But religion is here and never seems to die. So if the theory of evolution isn't God, what or who is?
I found my quote collection. It was Frank Zappa, apparently.
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