May 25, 2020 | Economy, Healthcare, Liberty Articles
So many things are hitting us fast, hard and from all directions. It is increasingly difficult to sift through the messages to find truth as everything—even a virus—has been weaponized. So honest people have to ask, “Is this about the election or the virus?” Who benefits most?
I was a boy when the Asian Flu Pandemic, originating in Singapore, attacked America leaving 116,000 dead in 1957. I was in college when more than 100,000 people in the U.S. died of the highly contagious Hong Kong Flu in the 1968 Pandemic (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). I contracted both. Both exceeded the death rate of COVID-19.
No one spoke of shutting down the economy, businesses, schools and churches. The media did not frighten us with nightly death tallies and Congress did not rush forward with grants and loans valued at 4 trillion dollars to help ease difficult times. People were not quarantined to their homes for weeks—even months. No-one wore face masks or social distanced six feet from others. No one was arrested for going to work or being on public beaches. No governors openly violated the 1st and 4th Amendments of the Constitution. We did not stop shaking hands or attending public dances. NOBODY WAS PARANOID OF NORMAL CONTACT.
Nor did we do any of these things just two years ago when 61,000 people died of influenza in the 2017-18 flu season or last year when 34,000 died of the same. It was life. The media in modern history had never focused on the body count of flu that takes thousands each year—until now. Nobody thought to benefit politically.
Until now no country self destructed their economy over a pandemic. They came and went and the economies thereafter remained good because we let them alone. Even the Twenties were prosperous times following the Spanish Flu of 1918 that took approximately 675,000 in the United States of a much smaller population. As bad as that was, at least six times worse in death, we did not shut down the economy by governmental decree, make it unlawful to go to work and church, or violate the Bill of Rights.
So why now? Because we have been made to be afraid and stay afraid.
Death in America with the present Wuhan Coronavirus is, as of May 20, 2020, at 90,340. “Now we know that it’s likely to be closer to maybe a really aggressive flu season” (Ingram Angle, April 23, 2020). This is the number who died WITH COVID-19. The number who died FROM COVID 19 is at least 25% less—probably far less.
What we know now of the Wuhan Coronavirus is that children are only minimally affected and unlikely to pass it on and that it overwhelmingly takes those over 65 with preexisting conditions. The Journal of American Medical Association, April 22, 2020, concluded that 94% of coronavirus patients in New York City hospitals suffered from preexisting conditions.
The odds of you dying from this virus from those contracting it “can vary from, at most, eight-tenths of a percent in New York City to two-one-hundredths of a percent in Phoenix.” (“An Advantaged Disease, Indeed.” By William J. Bennett & Seth Leibsohn, April 06, 2020).
What we know now is that states like South Dakota and Georgia, without lockdowns damaged their economies least. States like Florida and Texas that protected the aged had minimal death rates next to states like New York City and New Jersey.
So again, is this about the election or the virus? In the questions below which political party benefits most from making a “somewhat normal” pandemic into the most fearful event in a century so close to an election?
How do you kill the greatest economy, the greatest unemployment records, and Trump’s gigantic rallies attended by 20% Democrats, just prior to the election? Why are blue state governors so slow to open their economies before November 3, if possible? Which party is most advantaged by an economy unable to get back to normal?
How would fear of human contact and normalcy cause the people to want mail-in voting, which is said to advantage one political party—especially in swing states?
Which is advantaged by keeping the people in fear? Why is the CDC so adamant about counting deaths WITH COVID-19 rather than only deaths FROM COVID-19? Why did Democrat governors send COVID patients to nursing homes in Washington, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey especially when, in the latter two the hospital ship Comfort was available but mostly unused? Was it to inflate the death numbers? Why is the proven and vastly effective drug hydroxychloroquine opposed by Democrat media outlets and governors?
How more easily could the Democrat media shift the narrative from the alleged Biden-Burisma-Ukraine and China Scandals and divert investigations on FBI and DOJ and alleged FISA corruption to COVID-19? Finally, how better could the media shelter Biden from past corruption, obvious cognitive problems, and coming devastating debate performance?
So, is this about the election or the virus? Given the fact that Trump has been the target of constant Coup d’etat attempts to remove him by the same media who hyped the fear on this virus, I think it fair to pose this question.
Author
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Apr 13, 2020 | Economy, Healthcare, Liberty Articles
When President Donald Trump mobilized a health squad to advise him and the nation on the seriousness of the coronavirus epidemic he was given projections of death vastly exceeding the number of Americans who died in the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic. Initially these numbers were 2.2 million Americans. These later were reduced to 240,000. The latest IHME model, just out, has it at nearly 82,000 by August 1, 2020.
Now let’s be clear! All these numbers are unacceptable and involve real people: fathers, mothers grandparents and occasionally a child but always someone loved. Life matters. Any death is serious, of course, but this is only 20,000 more than death from the flu season of 2017-2018.
Why does this matter? Because it was these extreme projections of 2.2 million that were used as cause to shut down the economy and increase our indebtedness by perhaps $4 trillion dollars—an indebtedness more than all wars combined in American history.
What also concerns me is that most Democratic media outlets fed these panic inducing death counts from day one, even before evidence confirmed them. They now seem almost disappointed 1) with these new lower numbers, 2) that a drug used to treat malaria, hydroxy-chloroquine, is able to treat also the coronavirus, and 3) that this crisis is going to go away far too early. Democrats still can not give Trump a win on managing this crisis. They loaded Congress’s 2 trillion dollar relief bill with pork that had nothing to do with the virus itself, but did prolong passage of the bill designed to help millions of Americans desperately needing it.
My biggest concern, however, remains the weaponization of death projections seemingly to keep hysteria alive and well—and for what possible purpose? Who benefits from this hysteria? The media in modern history have never focused on the body count of flus that take thousands each year.
I am writing this on April 8, using the newly released death projections for April. By the time newspapers print this column on April 10 the projected death rate will be 22,239. By the time LibertyUnderFire subscribers read this April 14, deaths are projected to be 34,068. One week thereafter, April 17, it will be 43,279. By April 21 they are to be 54,857 By April 24, they are to be 62,089 and by April 28, they will be 68,938. Projections to Aug 1st will be 81,766 dead Americans. Deaths per day are to peak April 16 at 3,130 (IHME, COVID-19 Projections assuming full social distancing through May 2020, United States of America view at https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america). Readers can compare these numbers against reality as we approach these dates.
Still, the reduction of death by the panicked media is, for the rest of us, manna from heaven compared to the projections just 10 days before of 2.2 million dead Americans. The latest projected death in the United States of 82,000 in three months is unlikely to be reached. It might turn out to be even less than the 61,000 who died of influenza in the 2017-2018 season. Most of us may never know anyone who actually died from it. Body count of the deceased did not lead the news every night causing us to hunker in our homes wondering if we would be next.
So here are the facts that are underreported or ignored by the panicked press The odds of you getting this virus are much smaller than the hype, “based on the population tested, … rates can vary from, at most, eight-tenths of a percent in New York City to two-one-hundredths of a percent in Phoenix.” The few out of 330 million Americans that actually get this virus at least 98% will recover from it. There are models showing 50% of the population may have already had it, never knew they had it, and recovered (“An Advantaged Disease, Indeed.” By William J. Bennett & Seth Leibsohn, April 06, 2020). With these facts accurately reported it is unlikely that we would have shut down the economy.
They did not tell us of the 34,000 who died of influenza in last year’s 2018-2019 flu season, nor that we lose PER MONTH “about 54,000 Americans to heart disease; 50,000 to cancer; 14,000 to asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema; 12,000 to stroke; 10,000 to Alzheimer’s; 7,000 to diabetes; 5,600 to drug overdoses; and 4,700 to influenza and pneumonia.” These deaths give us over 157,000 deaths PER MONTH” and no-one shuts down the economy or cries out for a $2 Trillion stimulus package. Apparently only the coronavirus, amplified by the Democratic press, alerts the panic response.
Again all life matters and these too are horrifying unacceptable death numbers involving those we love. The media have no right to drive a panic without accurate, proportional (including the omissions noted above), supporting evidence that potentially could damage the economy beyond repair for years.
One piece of knowledge that would have helped reduce the media hysteria for young people is that only 7% of those who got it were under 50 years of age. We knew this early on. Allow them to return to work ASAP. Perhaps a better response to this epidemic would have been rather than shut down the economy, quarantine those over 65 and tell those younger not to visit them for a time.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Mar 30, 2020 | Economy, Globalism, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
By the time this column is published we will be ending our third week of isolation denied the privilege of attending church, social and athletic events as the Wuhan China Virus spreads across the country. Restaurants are closed as are entertainment areas and the only populated areas appear to be grocery stores. Schools and universities closed sending their children and students home. Airports and airplanes are virtually empty. It is eerie. President Donald Trump asked groups assembling not to exceed 10 persons to inhibit the spread of this unseen “killer.”
What is most concerning is that last year 34,000 people died in the United States from the flu and the media outlets never said a word. Nor did they the year before, 2017-2018 season, when 61,000 died of the flu, likely a less number than will die of the coronavirus in the U.S. this flu season. Indeed, it is estimated that 12,000-61,000 deaths occurred annually from the flu in the U.S. since 2010 (“This Is How Many People Die From the Flu Each Year, According to the CDC.” By Claire Gillespie , Health, February 11, 2020 ).
Why is this a pandemic and those every year preceding it not also pandemics resulting in closing down the economy, air travel and schools? Why did the media not respond as hysterically to the H1N1 Swine Flu epidemic in 2009 under Barack Obama when it killed approximately 17,000 Americans—far more than the coronavirus is likely to kill? (“Swine flu has killed up to 17,000 in U.S.: report” Maggie Fox, February 12, 2010).
Is the establishment media responsible for this pandemic of fear? Not the disease, of course, new strains are expected, but the unprecedented 24/7 hype driving everyone into isolation potentially bringing about a recession just before a presidential election that can only hurt President Trump?
The Center for Disease Control, CDC, reported as of February 11, 2020, 13 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the US. and no deaths. By March 25, 2020 that number was 60,881 total U.S, cases and 838 deaths so the spread in America is significant, and serious, but compared to previous years, not abnormal.
So what is the death rate? The UK places it between 0.5% and 1% and Germany “less than half a per cent,” also not comparatively abnormal (BBC News “Coronavirus death rate: What are the chances of dying?” By Robert Cuffe Head of Statistics, March 24, 2020).
The Atlantic in a March 22, article, “Red and blue America aren’t experiencing the same pandemic,” wrote of the “disconnect” between the two parties regarding the virus noting that “States with Republican governors have been slower, or less likely, than those run by Democrats to impose restrictions on their residents.” They observed that the same is so concerning rural verses urban communities.
But the real reason for the divide, not mentioned by the Atlantic, but noticed by virtually everyone on the right side of the political spectrum, centers on the establishment’s intention to remove President Donald Trump from office at any cost, thus far short of assassination. This might include the politicalization of a flu virus, heretofore taking thousands of Americans annually but hardly mentioned by the press—any press!
Republicans simply do not trust the establishment media. It has been behind nearly four years of constant coup attempts against the president and was responsible for hyping this virus to panic levels before a single American had the virus, certainly before an American death from it.
Let’s review these attempts. Three happened simultaneously before Trumps took office. Spygate and the Trump Tower wiretapping, Demonstrations in cities all over the United States flared up, presumably funded by George Sores, to refuse the results of the 2016 election with signs “Not My President” and finally, the Republican “Never Trumper” movement erupted. Once inaugurated the effort to get someone in his administration to declare him unfit so as to use the 25th Amendment to remove him followed. Then the Russia Hoax and the resultant 2 1/2 year Robert Mueller Investigation. This followed by disclosure of the FBI/CIA Coup attempt to unseat him, next the Ukrainian Hoax, followed by the failed Impeachment attempt. Nine easily documented attempts to remove him.
Trump endured four Congressional investigations, the Mueller and Horowitz Reports, each exonerated him, and the US Senate Impeachment trial acquitting him. Trump suffered more unjustified opposition/persecution than all U.S. presidents combined.
All major news outlets: MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the affiliates of the above, supported all the attempts to destroy this president, thus totally destroying their credibility with the right side of the political spectrum. All pipe the same hate Trump rhetoric. All are globalist establishment media outlets. All favored Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential Election. All have become the media arm of the Democratic Party. All panicked over the Wahun China Virus piping only hysteria sending Americans into hoarding and hiding and potentially causing unemployment in the millions, perhaps to destroy the economy before the election.
So why shouldn’t Republicans and Independents consider media overreaction—even weaponization—of the Wahun China Virus, yet another coup attempt to unseat their president? Establishment Deep State coverage of him is hostile no matter what he does.
Mar 23, 2020 | Constitution, Economy, Globalism, Immigration, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
This is my 551st column on liberty and the Constitution, I know no-one more published on this topic. I lived under 13 presidents of the United States, all gave lip service to the Constitution but none followed it closely. Of these I voted for only two Republicans. Those who least followed it were Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama. I spent a lifetime lecturing on these and the presidents before them. I dislike political factions (parties) as did George Washington. Readers know I call things as they are and defend the Constitution as written.
So with this background I am qualified to say, “Trump haters,” (Bushites, Clintonites, Romneyites, Holywood misfits, secret combinations in both majors political parties, coup conspirators in the FBI and CIA and finally fake news outlets notably MSNBC, NBC, New York Times and the Washington Post) who have conspired to take out Donald Trump. “Isn’t is time to lay down your arms?”
Four Congressional investigations, the Mueller and Horowitz Reports, and the US Senate Impeachment trial exonerated and indeed acquitted this man. Trump has endured more unjustified opposition/persecution than all presidents combined.
In the upcoming 2020 presidential election you offer only hate Trump rhetoric and freedom and prosperity destroying socialism. You are destroying the Democratic Party, perhaps America. You make Democratic President John F. Kennedy look far right. You offer nothing to build, strengthen or edify this country. Republicans before Trump were awful but you are much worse.
Please cease inspiring the crazies in our society to intimidate MAGA haters, innocent Catholic high school kids visiting DC, or worse, driving vehicles into tents housing Republican campaigners or shooting Congressman Steve Scalise while playing baseball with fellow congressmen and staffers. Cease supporting Antifa and MS-13 gang violence by not condemning them.
So what has Trump done for you that should command your respect? The list is extensive but let me identify in order my favorite six.
He defends the Constitution as written. Unfortunately Trump is a conservative, not a constitutionalist, but he follows the Constitution more closely than any president since Calvin Coolidge. He adamantly defends the 1st (religious and free speech freedoms), 2nd (freedom to protect oneself and neighbors—even from the government), and 10th amendments (states’ rights). No president has defended the rights of the unborn more than he. He nominated two supreme court justices, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, that appear to follow it and has placed, with Senate confirmation, 187 judicial nominees on the Federal bench who attest that they too will follow the Constitution as written. This is monumental as the Constitution is the reason we are free.
He opposes the globalist plan to first create regional governments of all nations, through trade deals that transfer economic, then political sovereignty, such as the European Union, then merge them into world government. He has made speeches to that end, on the campaign trail and even in the United Nations, which are never covered by the establishment (globalist) medias. His opposition to world government is, and always has been, why he is so hated by them. We have published on this before. Finally, the U.S. is first consideration in his “America First” pledge.. We are no longer nation builders or the world’s policemen. He wants to cut foreign aid (foreign welfare) spending it in the U.S. instead.
He stimulated the economy as no president has in decades. Manufacturing companies have and are returning to America. Almost 4 million new jobs have been created since his election. Reportedly, unemployment claims have now hit a 49-year low. African, Hispanic, and Asian American unemployment are at the lowest rates for decades or ever recorded, as are women and youth unemployment. He promised to dump two regulations for every new regulation but instead dumped eight. This returned companies to America, freed and stimulated the economy as never before resulting in an energy boom placing the U.S. as number one oil and natural gas producer in the world. Fifty-seven percent of Americans say they are better off financially since Trump took office.
He is securing our southern border. New agreements with Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras required them to stop the flood of illegal immigration through their countries, or face higher tariffs. Now deadly drugs and violent criminals are not flowing as easily across our borders and into our communities. According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics 976 alien gang members were apprehended at the border in FY 2019, including 464 aliens affiliated with MS-13. ICE arrested 143,099 aliens in FY 2019, 86 percent of whom had criminal records.
He has done more than all presidents combined to expose and stop child sex trafficking. By executive order Trump declared it a national emergency Dec. 21, 2017. Just last year ICE arrested 2,197 criminals associated with human trafficking and freed 428 victims. To encourage other countries to meet more strident standards eliminating trafficking, he signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
He destroyed 100% of ISIS caliphate.
So Trump haters, you have been wrong on most everything the last three years. I too criticize Trump in print occasionally but isn’t it time to notice that he has been one of our best presidents and lay down your hate and arms? Others think so, his rallies now comprise 20% Democrats.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org
Dec 3, 2019 | Constitution, Economy, Globalism, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
No one has been more outspoken against globalism than President Donald Trump. His “America First” platform is the antithesis of their plans for world government. This is the reason all globalists, Democrat and Republican, and all globalist mediums, especially The New York Times and Washington Post, oppose him at all costs. Hence the shock when globalists now praise Trump’s USMCA (United States/Mexico/Canada) sovereignty destroying replacement of NAFTA—seemingly a merged agreement of the worst parts of NAFTA and TPP.
Most Americans viewed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreements for what they were, sovereignty sucking packs to undermine and destroy the independence of nation states, as previous agreements had done in Europe resulting in the European Union. Globalists, funded by the financial global elites (from the Rockefeller’s to George Soros) had failed previous tries at world government, notably the League of Nations and the United Nations, and concluded that loyalty to nation states is the enemy to world government, hence their decades-old strategy of consolidating regions of the globe, first economically, then politically into regional government. These then consolidated later into world government.
Trump had billed the TPP as “the worst agreement ever negotiated” and three days after his inauguration withdrew the United States as a signatory and refused further TPP negotiations. He promised to renegotiate NAFTA as well. In the Rose Garden, October 1, 2018 USMCA rollout, Trump said, “Throughout the campaign I promised to renegotiate NAFTA, and today we have kept that promise,”
So why are the globalists so happy with USMCA? It looks to be a blend of the worst parts of NAFTA and TPP. According to the online Huffington Post, “At least half of the men and women standing behind Trump during his Rose Garden ceremony praising the new deal were the same career service staff who negotiated nearly identical provisions in TPP, which Trump had railed against.” One of these, Trevor Kincaid, the lead negotiator for TPP, said, “It’s really the same with a new name. It’s basically the ‘22 Jump Street’ of trade deals.”
Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the lead organization for world government and the most influential organization on foreign policy, in both major political parties the last hundred years, tweeted his praise for the agreement, “The USMCA looks to be the trade pact formerly known as NAFTA plus 10-20%. Hope it becomes a precedent for TPP.” Adding later, “What matters is that the US joins it.…” Haass, so enthused by the agreement, added the next day, “USMCA is NAFTA plus TPP plus a few tweaks. Whatever … TPP by another name.” No wonder. The lead negotiator of the agreement was CFR member Robert Lighthizer, who candidly admitted that the USMCA is “built on” many aspects of the TPP.
Christian Gomez, who spent considerable time with the 1,809 paged document wrote, “A side-by-side comparison of the USMCA and the TPP shows extensive overlap. Virtually all of the problems inherent in the TPP are likewise contained in the USMCA, such as the erosion of national sovereignty, submission to a new global governance authority, the unrestricted movement of foreign nationals, workers’ rights to collective bargaining, and regional measures to combat climate change” (What’s Wrong with the USMCA? New American, Nov. 2018).
So the globalist are happy. They thought under Trump their decades old efforts to unite the United States, Mexico and Canada into a regional government, economically first then politically, as they had the European Union, would be unraveled. Instead, globalists regained all their lost ground plus leapt forward into the areas of labor, immigration, and environment regulation, which agreement would handcuff the legislatures of these countries to regional law passed by unelected bureaucrats.
Gomez added, “The pact is even worse than NAFTA regarding undermining American sovereignty and self-determination, in favor of North American integration extending beyond trade to include labor and environmental policies. It is, in fact, so bad that the globalists who had lambasted Trump for renegotiating NAFTA praised him afterward” (Ibid).
So much for the Constitution or national sovereignty holding them back. And Trump fell for it.
The massive size of the agreement screams control. Liberty is defined by the limits of the government on the individual. The management of an entire country is housed in a Constitution of only four or five pages and a Bill of Rights of a single page—not 1,809.
A real free trade agreement could probably fit a single page and be noted for its absence of rules on trade—as it was in the early days of this republic. Let us instead disallow the rich from funding organizations designed to end our Republic, destroy the Constitution, or create a world government, all of which they presently do. Such used to be called treason.
Now there exists no evidence Trump really supports globalism except his USMC Agreement—everything else he has done demonstrates otherwise. He has clearly been duped. Getting him to disavow what he called “incredible” will not be easy but he must if he sincerely decries world government and supports America First. If not, he will be credited with instigating “the worst agreement ever negotiated”—a government over our own. And in time will be linked with the Rockefeller’s and George Soros as having helped bring about world government.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Nov 26, 2019 | Economy, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
Few realize that New England’s first form of government under the Pilgrims was communalism (socialism) where “each produced according to his ability and each received according to his needs,” applied in practice more than two centuries before Karl Marx first penned the above quote. The result, “share the wealth,” then and now was, and always will be, shared poverty.
William Bradford, Plymouth colony’s governor its first 30 years, wrote of the agreement between the 102 Pilgrim Mayflower passengers and the financial “Adventurers” in his book Of Plymouth Plantation. He noted that the seven-year contract signed July 1, 1620, before leaving Plymouth England, stipulated that the Pilgrims were to pool, for common benefit, “all profits and benefits that are got by trade, traffic, trucking, working, fishing, or any other means of any person or persons…” It further noted “that at the end of the seven years, the capital and profits, viz. the houses, lands, goods and chattels, be equally divided betwixt the Adventurers and Planters…”
During this time the colonists were to “have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock and goods of the said colony.” It doesn’t get more socialistic than this because the government divvied out the goods and loafers received the same as those who worked.
The first two years the result was shortages and starvation. Half the colonists died. No one did more than the minimal because the incentive to excel was destroyed by the contract. The industrious were neutralized. Bradford wrote of the scarcity of food “no supply was heard of, neither knew they when they might expect any.” The contract, Bradford added, “was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to the benefit and comfort. For the young men, that were most able and fit for labour and service, did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense….”
In other words, socialism made strong men lazy. Bradford spoke of another problem because of the government created famine—thievery. Even in this Christian community, “much was stolen both by night and day….” to alleviate the prevailing condition of hunger.
The “feast” of the first Thanksgiving did fill their bellies briefly, and they were grateful, but abundance was anything but common. Harvests were not bountiful in that year nor the next. Why did this happen? Because they had fallen victim to the socialistic philosophy of “share the wealth.” This dis-incentivized the productive base of society.
After two years of such, with the survival of the colony at stake, they contemplated upon “how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop than they had done, that they might not still thus languish in misery.” They opted to abandon the incentive killing socialist contract in favor of the free market. And so they “assigned to every family a parcel of land, according to the proportion of their number, for that end….”
The effects were almost immediate. A delighted Governor Bradford wrote: “This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor … could use, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better content. The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn; which before would allege weakness and inability; whom to have compelled would have been thought great tyranny and oppression.”
Then suddenly, as though night changed to day, the crop of 1623 was bounteous, and those thereafter as well, and it had nothing to do with the weather. Bradford wrote, “Instead of famine now God gave them plenty and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God.” He concluded later, “any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day.”
One variable alone made the difference and ended the three-year famine. They abandoned the notion of government (or corporation) owning the means of production and distribution in favor of the individual having property and being responsible to take care of himself. Before, no one benefited by working because he received the same compensation as those who did not. After the change everyone kept the benefits of his labor. Those who chose not to work basically chose also to be poor and the government (corporation) no longer confiscated from those who produced to give to those who did not.
In other words, the free market (capitalism) is a much greater stimulus than governmental force. The Pilgrims now wished to work because they got to keep the benefits of their labor.
Secure property rights are the key to prosperity for all who wish to work. When this right is threatened by confiscatory taxation or outright confiscation of property, or by excessive government rules and regulations governing such, whether planned as in a contract enforced by the government at Plymouth, or gradual as in our day, work and production slow and can eventually stop. The answer for them was to extract socialism immediately from their midst, as it is for us today as well. May we have the wisdom to do so?
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
