Posted on 11/02/2013 1:11:25 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
It’s astonishing and a little horrifying that America’s elites know so little about their country’s history. Case in point: Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute. Jared is an influential left-ish economic polemicist and a sometime adviser to Barack Obama on economic affairs.....
On Monday night, I told Larry Kudlow about the story of the first Thanksgiving.
I explained that the first Thanksgiving was a celebration of abundance after a period of socialism and starvation. It seems Bernstein never heard about this chapter in U.S. history; he called it an “exercise in revisionist history.” Admitting that he had never read the memoirs of Plymouth governor William Bradford, he nevertheless dismissed the story as untrue. But the facts are undeniable, and there is nothing to revise. Bradford’s historical accounts, which I quote below, have been read by schoolchildren for over 300 years.
[BIG SNIP--Be sure to read]
It’s genuinely scary to me that a leading member of the left intellectual establishment–a group that will shortly rule both of our elected branches–doesn’t know about America’s first experiment with socialism. On top of that, he doesn’t care to know. Neither did the philosopher kings who,ignorantly and blithely, imposed on our forebears a system that led to malnutrition, pestilence and mass fatalities.
But it has always been that way. Men in ivory towers, ivied halls,foundation-funded think tanks or bustling newsrooms dream up new forms of social organization. They write books,policy papers and five-year plans telling us all that is wrong with the way we live now and what could be done if we simply adhere to their analyses.
...........When we remind them that their ideas have been tried–and found wanting–in the past, they cavalierly deny history, clap their hands over their ears and cry even more loudly for “change.” If we listen to them, we deserve what we will get.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Occupy Plymouth Colony: How A Failed Commune Led To Thanksgiving [excerpt] ".......................As my friend Reuven Brenner has taught me, history is a series of experiments: The Human Gamble. Some gambles work and are adopted by history and some do not and should be abandoned by it. The problem is that the human gamble only works if there is a record of experimental outcomes and if decision makers consult that record. For many years, the story of the first failed commune of Plymouth Bay was part of the collective memory of American students. But Progressive Education found that story unhelpful and it has fallen into obscurity, which explains why (as I alluded to before) a well-educated establishment figure like Jared Bernstein would be unaware of it.
I’m often asked why our current leadership class forgets the lessons of the past so often. They are, after all, very smart men and women. Don’t they know that collectivism will fail?
No, they don’t. Not anymore. For much of our history, our leaders were educated in the principles which were to help them avoid errors once they’d joined the ruling class. They studied to learn how to not misuse power. Now our leaders learn nothing of the dangers of abusing power: their education is entirely geared to its acquisition.
All of their neurons are trained on that one objective – to get to the top. What they do when they get there is a matter for later. And what happens to the country when they’re done with their experiments is beside the point: after all, their experiments will not really affect them personally. History is the story of the limitations of human power. But the limits of power is a topic for people who doubt themselves and their right to rule, not the self-anointed............................"
__________________________________________________________
David Horowitz [written during the Bill/Hillary Clinton presidency: Progressive Narcissism "..........Conservatives who think progressives are misinformed idealists will always be blind-sided by the sheer malice of the left -- by the cynicism of those who pride themselves on their principles; by the viciousness of those who champion sensitivity; by the intolerance of those who call themselves liberal; and by the ruthless disregard for the well-being of the poor on the part of those who preen themselves as their champions.
Conservatives are surprised because they see progressives as merely misguided, when they are, in fact, morally – and ontologically -- misdirected. They are the messianists of a false religious faith. Since the redeemed future that justifies their existence and rationalizes their hypocrisy can never be realized, what really motivates progressives is a modern idolatry: their limitless passion for the continuance of Them."
Now these aides will have to wait a year to learn whether the source of their medical plans matters a whit to the voters.
Given the abysmal approval ratings that members of Congress are confronting, and the welter of public apprehension about the health law that’s making Republicans giddy and Democrats anxious, it’s tough to imagine any close race in 2014 being influenced if the incumbent’s staff is still covered under the federal health system, not one of the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges.
But since the suggestion of hypocrisy is the mother of so many 30-second attack ads, it’s not unreasonable to imagine some challengers at least trying to make a big deal out of lawmakers who have decided their employees won’t have to enter the new marketplaces into which they have recently steered millions of constituents. Fairly or not, these critics will describe this as fresh evidence of Congress going out of its way to exempt itself from the social experiments it imposes on the rest of the nation..................." Hill Staff Health Care: Will Voters Care About This Sideshow?
the real shame of it IS-----> they got away with it..
Capitalists were too busy to make SOCIALISM ILLEGAL..
STILL ARE!!!.
http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/1650bradford.asp#First%20harvest
Here is another good one below. It brings up the idea that it wasn't discontent among the colonists, but rather the fact that they had to send large amounts of their labor back to the capitalist investors back home. No doubt the "progressives" will try to use this to refute the reasons for the failure of socialism. The author shows that while this is partly true, the main problem was that the workers resented the slackers. READ THIS ONE!
http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/1650bradford.asp#First%20harvest
I just got mine but the horse is smarter than obama's entire cabinet.
Needs to be repeated. To a Christian, this is obvious.
I agree!
Bump!
The Gods of the Copybook Headings, Kipling
1919
As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I Make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market-Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.
We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.
We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market-Place.
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.
With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings.
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Heading said: “Stick to the Devil you know.”
On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “The Wages of Sin is Death.”
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “If you don’t work you die.”
Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew,
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four —
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.
* * * * *
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man —
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began —
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire —
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
“When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins”
He nailed it on this and many other areas.
Of course, he is a white racist colonialist and should not be taught anymore./s
Yes, Kipling’s prescient poetry portends both hope and dread.
I have heard Rush mention this before. The problem is that this is only part of the true story.
The first year everyone worked for the common good and a large harvest was realized. But with additional people arriving that fall there was not enough food for all. The second year, the leaders decided the provide motivation by saying individuals could keep what they grew. There was a drought for most of the growing season until the group realized their sin of greed. After they repent to God, a gentle rain came unlike the typical last season down pours. The harvest turned out large. The Pilgrims acknowledge the forgiveness of God and their own sin of greed.
It is not a story of the benefits of capitalism, but is the story of mans sinfulness and God’s forgiveness.
Our rural, union teachers in a small Texas town never taught the true version of our First Thanksgiving. Thru the years, not one teacher referred to the true version. The only way I found the truth was listening to Rush, and David Barton. Just ONE reason Mulder had it right when he stated ‘Trust No One’
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