Back to Basics

I ran across this article by Chip Wood and thought it was very appropriate for the week of Thanksgiving.  As we celebrate Thanksgiving this Thursday be reminded of how this country was started and all of those that have fought to keep our freedom.  Many have given their lives to protect this country.  Are we willing to sacrifice those freedoms in favor of government control, heading for socialism?  It didn’t work once, it won’t work again.  The lesson learned so many years ago should not be forgotten.  When the government takes away a persons right to keep what they earn they also take away the motivation and determination to better oneself.  Why put in the extra work to have it taken away and given to those who do not work, or work as hard?  Instead of success, everyone fails.  This Thanksgiving think about what we were and what we have become…what road do we really want to travel.

The following article was written by Chip Wood:

Thanksgiving

Did you know that our Pilgrim forefathers tried communism when they first landed at Plymouth Rock?

How’s that for a dramatic beginning to a story? Years ago, when I used to give a lot of talks to high school classes, this was one of my favorites. It always got the students’ attention. And I have to admit, I also enjoyed seeing some liberal teachers get so upset with me they almost lost their lunches.

Here’s the story I told those students in those long-ago presentations.

The Pilgrims who arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1620 were incredibly brave and hardy souls. They were motivated by the noblest of virtues. They vowed, each and every one, to be as selfless as possible—to always put the needs of the group first. They agreed to own everything in common and to share everything equally.

And their naïve piety almost killed the entire colony.

We all know how the adventure begins. A group of devout Christians, seeking religious freedom for themselves and eager to “advance the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ” in the New World, sets sail from Plymouth, England in 1620. An investment consortium known as the Merchant Adventurers of London paid the expenses for the trip, including chartering the Mayflower and its 40-man crew.

The deal was simple: The Pilgrims agreed to establish a colony in northern Virginia where they would plant crops, fish the waters and hunt in the forests. They would return a certain percentage of each year’s bounty to London until their debt had been repaid.

Things went wrong from the start. First, the syndicate changed the deal, drastically reducing the amount they would loan the Pilgrims. The brave adventurers were forced to sell many of their own possessions, and much of their provisions, to pay for the trip. As a result, they landed in the New World badly short of supplies.

Next, the small ship they had purchased in Holland, which was to accompany them to America so they could fish the waters off the coast, had to be abandoned in England.

Shortly after they set sail, the ship, badly misnamed the Speedwell, became “open and leakie as a sieve,” as its captain reported.