How the Pilgrims progressed ~ By Joseph Farah

Commentary from WorldNetDaily

Do you think we are wise enough to learn a lesson from the Pilgrims' experience today? Or are we doomed to repeat the failures and experience the miseries of socialism, again, for ourselves?

By Joseph Farah Posted: November 25, 2009 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2009 As America embarks on a bold leeward lurch toward centralized power and massive redistribution of wealth in addressing its economic problems, it might be time to take a step back and learn a lesson from our forebears, the Pilgrims. But first we must familiarize ourselves with the historical truth of their experience – something that has been in short supply in the media and our schools. Kids often learn today that the Mayflower gang were pretty incompetent – bad farmers, bad fishermen, bad hunters. They came to the New World unprepared for the hardships they would face in the wilderness. They were rescued by the friendly native Americans who taught them the survival skills they would need, so the story goes. The first harvest festival was a time of rejoicing and giving thanks to their saviors – the Indians who befriended them and guided them to a better way of life. That picture is totally wrong. Here's the real story. Before leaving Europe the Pilgrims entered into a contract, dated July 1, 1620, that would have all profits of their "trade, traffic, trucking, working, fishing, or any other means of any person or persons, remain in the common stock until division." In other words, the settlement at Plymouth Bay was the first New World experiment in communism – long before Karl Marx supposedly invented it. To say that social experiment was a total failure would be an understatement. The first winter spelled death and disease and hunger for the colony because the Pilgrims had arrived too late in the season to plant crops and build adequate shelters. Half of them died. The following spring, however, they planted and hunted and fished to get by – just barely. They did invite some of the friendly Indians to join them in their first "Thanksgiving" celebration. But they were not thanking the Indians. They were thanking God for pulling them through. As William Bradford wrote in his journal: "And thus they found the Lord to be with them in all their ways, and to bless their outgoings and incomings, for which let His holy name have the praise forever, to all posterity." Nevertheless, Bradford remained troubled by the colony's inability to prosper. He found the answer by studying the Bible and revisiting the notion of private property and incentivized hard work. [CLICK HERE TO READ MORE]