The Real Thanksgiving

I called Michael Medved, who is a member of CURE‘s advisory board, to make sure that he’s offering his fascinating Thanksgiving radio program again. He is! Since 2007, Medved has been telling the real history of Thanksgiving on his national radio program.

If you’ve never heard Medved’s Thanksgiving story, then you are about to have all your assumptions about Thanksgiving challenged.

Particularly, Medved talks about the economic model the pilgrims tried when they first came to New England. We all know the story about the failures and the eventual success of the colony, but what Medved explains is why there was such failure.

Medved tells when the pilgrims arrived, they instituted a socialist collective where everyone would work together and everyone would get a share of the crops.

After a couple of years, the governor of the colony, William Bradford, realized that they were starving to death because their socialist system was taking away the people’s motivation to work for their own food. Through those years, everyone lost a member of their family and eventually half the colony had died.

To reverse the course of destruction, Bradford gave everyone their own private parcel of land and noted in his diary that suddenly all hands were industrious. The crop yield in 1623 was actually in surplus and they held a thanksgiving feast where they were able to provide food for themselves.

Medved provides a cautionary tale for America. He reminds us to be vigilant. Medved quotes Bradford where he wrote in his diary: “we must see the worth of their labor so we will not lose what our forefathers obtained through so much hardship.”

I know you’ll have a busy (and delicious!) Thanksgiving but if you find the time to tune into Michael Medved’s show at 3-6 pm Eastern time (check your local talk radio schedules) you will not be disappointed.

Happy Thanksgiving!