We have so much to be thankful for this year (Updated)

Phil Boehmke "In a year which saw the passage of ObamaCare, the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill, the appointment of another unqualified hard-left advocate (Kagan) to our Supreme Court, a rising body count in Afghanistan, persistent high unemployment and other less well publicized assaults on our freedom and security it may seem as if there is very little to be thankful for. However this past year saw record numbers of our fellow Americans becoming engaged in the cause of Liberty and a number of significant victories which portent(sic) well for the year ahead."

A Lost Thanksgiving Lesson  "Long before the failure of modern socialism, the earliest European settlers gave us a dramatic demonstration of the fatal flaws of collectivism. Unfortunately, few Americans today know it.
"The Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony organized their farm economy along communal lines. The goal was to share the work and produce equally.
"That's why they nearly all starved."  John Stossel in RealClearPolitics

Giving Thanks for the Free Market  "When the first Pilgrims founded the Plymouth Colony, all property was taken away from families and transferred to a “comone wealth.” In other words, the Pilgrims tried to do away with private property. The results were disastrous. According to Bradford, the stronger and younger men resented working for other men’s wives and children “without any recompence.” And the women forced to cook and clean for other men saw their uncompensated service as “a kind of slavery.” The system as a whole bred “confusion and discontent” and “retarded much employment that would have been to [the Pilgrims’] benefit and comfort.” Unable to produce their own food, some settlers “became servants to the Indians,” cutting wood and fetching water in exchange for “a capful of corn.” Others tragically perished."

Strangers, Saints and Indians  "In the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims reaped a bountiful harvest. To thank God for their deliverance and the help they had received from the Indians, Bradford held a three-day Thanksgiving feast inviting the Indians to join them in their celebration.
"Squanto remained friendly with the Pilgrims until he succumbed to an unknown fever and died in 1622. Amazingly, he bequeathed his possessions to the Pilgrims, as Bradford would document, "as remembrances of his love." "