Thanksgiving, we are reminded, began with a group of religious refugees trying to make a life in what would later become the Boston area. Writing at the New York Post, John Stossel reminds us that upon arriving in 1620 the Pilgrims tried socialism, really wanted it to work, and it darned near killed them.
After they gave up on collectivism and went over to private property, they began to make a living and actually have some things for which to be thankful. By the time one of my ancestors arrived in the area some 13 years later it was only an unpleasant memory.
Most of us, most of the time, are unwilling to view humanity as “our family” and act selflessly in the best interests thereof, regardless of our personal outcomes. Every year, while remembering the Pilgrims, we need to relearn the lesson that socialism is based on a mistaken idea of human nature and therefore doesn’t produce abundance.
Private property and individual initiative are based on an accurate view of human nature and do produce abundance. One of the enduring mysteries is why idealists keep rejecting the realistic view of human nature, preferring one that often works in a family but rarely, and then only briefly, in a larger enterprise.
