Yet another leftist history lesson brought to you by reality's liberal bias.

[rex_dart]

The Pilgrims Were ... Socialists?Ah, Thanksgiving. A celebration regardless of creed; a time for all Americans to come together after a divisive election year

Comments

[chimbleysweep]

My favorite pilgrim is Humility Cooper. She outlived her whole family, except for her cousin, before she turned one, and then she was shipped back to England. Go gurl~

[filbypott]

"Humility Cooper" is an awesome name, not gonna lie.

[chimbleysweep]

They had some amazing names. The Brewsters had the corner on the market. Love, Patience, Fear, Wrestling (and Jonathan).

These are things I remember from 5th grade.

[everythingonit]

Wait...

FEAR?!

Awesome.

[filbypott]

I'm baffled by any attempt to link the Pilgrims to socialism, since they were the direct descendants of Cromwell's Puritan movement, which eventually (IMO) gave rise to modern American conservatism.

[tmlforsyth]

Ayatollah Cromwell seemed more authoritarian and would probably consider Adam Smith as a dangerous non-conformist. He didn't abolish England's ban on Jews, but he was bright enough to look the other way, and his rule did some good for England, but he was a humorless prig and the Brits were very happy to have the Stuarts back.

I could see Cromwell backing socialism as long as it was part of Puritan theocracy and excluded other socialist theocrats, like Jesuits. Oliver would naturally be very anti-social democracy, but he's also be just as contemptuous of libertarianism.

[filbypott]

...yeah, that has the ring of truth to it.

Even so, I still think of Cromwell as the progenitor of American social conservatism, if not fiscal conservatism.

[tmlforsyth]

I'll give you social conservatism, especially considering it's New England roots, though I always thought the fiscal conservatism was more based in classical liberalism. Granted was a radical regicidal rebel in his day, but other Puritans were even more radical.

Granted, the definition of fiscal conservative has shifted as populists like Glen Beck claim the libertarian mantle.

I've always found capitalism more radical than socialism, as socialism has certain roots in very ancient societies, while individualism is a more recent concept. Now corporatism may have older roots, too.

capitalism?

[nothingmuch]

Finally, the governor of the colony, William Bradford, abolished this system and gave each household a parcel of land. With private property to call their own, the Pilgrims were suddenly very industrious

So where do I sign up for my free parcel of land so I can be a well-off capitalist like the Pilgrims?

Re: capitalism?

[rex_dart]

Try 1889, but you're going to have to race everyone to Oklahoma for it.

Re: capitalism?

[nothingmuch]

lol

Re: capitalism?

[hinoema]

Yeah, isn't that government handouts? Welfare!

[subversive_kiwi]

NEGL, I can't think about Thanksgiving without breaking out this scene from Addams Family Values.

[fynoda]

I came here just to post this.

[dreammeanyway]

YES.

[filbypott]

(...is that Tony Shalhoub singing "Macho Man" at the end?)

[lidane]

OK. So these imbeciles are saying that the Pilgrims were socialist but turned from their evil ways, and this douche from Missouri says that the Pilgrims came here to escape socialism:

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/25/todd-akin-pilgrims-socialism/

Teabaggers -- plz to make up your mind on which bit of historical revisionism you're going to follow. Kthxbai.

[filbypott]

I just think it's incredibly disingenuous to talk about capitalism or socialism in the context of the early 1700s, before anyone heard of Adam Smith and Karl Marx's grandfather wasn't even born yet.

[lidane]

Of course it's disingenuous. However, you can't reason with these idiots. They're so thoroughly indoctrinated in this right-wing echo chamber version of history that pointing out facts like capitalism and socialism not actually existing yet just doesn't compute.

Besides, who cares about facts when you're trying to make a political point? =P

[filbypott]

Sad but true. :/