1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,960 Speaker 1: There's the Thanksgiving story you know, and then there's a 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:05,360 Speaker 1: major part of the story that you don't. And now, 3 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:08,639 Speaker 1: for twenty eight years, on Thanksgiving Day, radio talk show 4 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: host Rush Limbaugh, he read part of this Thanksgiving story. 5 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: It's been about four years since he's died, and I 6 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: think it's time for me to bring it back because 7 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 1: most people have no idea how close the Pilgrims came 8 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: to failing, and the reason why is nothing like the 9 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:25,080 Speaker 1: version that you learned in school. And whether you live 10 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:27,160 Speaker 1: in America or you live in some other country, this 11 00:00:27,200 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: story matters because every nation rises and collapses on the 12 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: same principle that the Pilgrim's discovered out of sheer desperation. Now, 13 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: what happened next didn't just save this starving settlement. 14 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 2: They started. 15 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,920 Speaker 1: It planted the seed of the prosperity engine that shaped 16 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:45,560 Speaker 1: the entire modern world that we live in. Now, once 17 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:49,040 Speaker 1: you understand it, you're going to see exactly why economies boom, 18 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: why they break, and why you're repeating the same mistakes Right. 19 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 2: Now now, real quick. 20 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: If you're new here, I've spent decades building and selling companies. 21 00:00:57,040 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: I'm a partner of major bitcoin venture fund. I help 22 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:00,880 Speaker 1: run a public and trade bitcoin company. 23 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:01,880 Speaker 2: So when we talk. 24 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: About incentives and systems and prosperity, these are the same 25 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,559 Speaker 1: principles that we use today and you can use them too. 26 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: So let's go back four hundred years and look at 27 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:14,839 Speaker 1: what really happened, because the real Thanksgiving story it starts 28 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: with a system that was failing from day one. Let's 29 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: go all right now, when the Pilgrims decided to leave Europe. 30 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:24,959 Speaker 1: And you have to understand something about this, right, This 31 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 1: wasn't like going on a road trip for us today. 32 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 2: This was the seventeenth century, so. 33 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: This would have been like us today, I don't know, 34 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 1: loading one hundred people into a homemade rocket and launching 35 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: for an uncharted planet. Now, almost none of them had 36 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,759 Speaker 1: the money to do this because these weren't wealthy people. 37 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:45,400 Speaker 1: They weren't aristocrats, They weren't even funded by a church 38 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: or any government. Most of them were working class Christian 39 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: believers who had already spent a decade living in exile 40 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: in leading Netherlands. They were fleeing religious persecution in England. 41 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: But to cross the Atlantic that required money. It required 42 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:02,919 Speaker 1: a lot of money. So they needed, you know, ships, 43 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 1: they needed crews, They needed food, tools, weapons, They needed 44 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: supplies to survive months at sea, and then supplies to 45 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: rebuild a civilization from scratch when they landed. Now, the Pilgrims, 46 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 1: they couldn't afford any of this, so they did what 47 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:19,080 Speaker 1: any startup today would do. 48 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,640 Speaker 2: Right. They've got a vision, but not enough cash. They 49 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:23,399 Speaker 2: went to investors. 50 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 1: These weren't philanthropists, these weren't donors. These were hard nosed 51 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,080 Speaker 1: London merchants. It's an important part of the story. These 52 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: were businessmen, and they financed risky ventures only if they 53 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: controlled the entire operation. Now, the Pilgrims they needed the money. 54 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:42,520 Speaker 1: They needed the money badly, so of course they agreed 55 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: to this plan. Right, so they signed a contract that 56 00:02:45,639 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: would define their entire life in America. This contract, it 57 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 1: handed the investors total control over how the American colony 58 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: would function, including one very specific requirement that would turn 59 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 1: out to be patis. But at the time the Pilgrims 60 00:03:01,919 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: didn't realize it. They they didn't even really care. As 61 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: a matter of fact, right they were willing to endure 62 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:10,360 Speaker 1: almost anything, any hardship, to escape the old world and 63 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:11,359 Speaker 1: go build a new one. 64 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 2: So they left leading. 65 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: They selled to England, and after delays in Southampton, they 66 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: finally boarded the Mayflower in Plymouth, England, in September of 67 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,079 Speaker 1: sixteen twenty. Why they started this late in the year, 68 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: I don't know, come back to that. But they left 69 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: and they were carrying nothing but faith, courage, contract and 70 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: the contract that looked good on paper, but it nearly 71 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: guaranteed the colony would fail. Now, they had no idea 72 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: that the biggest danger wasn't the sea, it wasn't the storms, 73 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: it wasn't even the winter that was waiting for them 74 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,600 Speaker 1: when they landed. The real danger was the system they 75 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 1: were bringing with them, a system that almost wiped them out. 76 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 1: That's where the story turned. Now, just to set the 77 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: stage a little bit here, when the Pilgrims finally reached 78 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: the New World, it's important to picture like what they 79 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: actually landed to what they walked into, because it wasn't 80 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:01,200 Speaker 1: like there was like some open fields and some buildings 81 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: like waiting for them. Right they arrived in December of 82 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,560 Speaker 1: sixteen twenty, it was the dead of winter in New England. 83 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:11,720 Speaker 1: It was freezing cold, the ground was frozen solid, temperatures 84 00:04:11,760 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: were brutal, and of course there was no buildings. There 85 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:17,360 Speaker 1: was no shelter, there was nothing there, right, so they 86 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:19,479 Speaker 1: had to sleep on the boat, on the Mayflower for 87 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: weeks while small groups went ashore. They left the boat, 88 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 1: they went ashore, they cut timber, they started building some 89 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: crude shelters in the freezing cold. And for food, well, 90 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: of course, they couldn't plant anything. That's going to take 91 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:34,120 Speaker 1: a year, not to mention the soil was hard as 92 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:36,720 Speaker 1: a rock. There was no harvest coming for them. They 93 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: could hunt, but that wasn't easy either, right. The animals 94 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: were different from the ones that they had known over 95 00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:46,239 Speaker 1: in Europe. The terrain was dense, it was icy, and 96 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: as Bradford said, the food supply quote decreased daily because 97 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:54,279 Speaker 1: they didn't know how to fish right. The local waters 98 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: were different. Their early hunts didn't bring in much food. 99 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:02,479 Speaker 1: On top of that, the wave of sickness hit almost immediately, pneumonia, scurvy, fevers. 100 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:05,479 Speaker 1: By the end of the first winter, they had lost 101 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:08,480 Speaker 1: forty five people out of the original one hundred and 102 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:11,680 Speaker 1: two that left. I mean, that's almost half the entire 103 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 1: group gone in just a couple of months. Now, while 104 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,520 Speaker 1: all this is happening, they're still trying to operate under 105 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:20,919 Speaker 1: this economic system they agreed to back in England with 106 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:24,320 Speaker 1: the investors. Now, the system that those investors required in 107 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:26,680 Speaker 1: exchange for giving them the money for finance and the 108 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 1: voyage meant that everything that they produced over in the 109 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 1: New World belonged to the company. Nothing belonged to them individually. 110 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:38,160 Speaker 1: So they had basically a communal system. They had communal work, 111 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: they had communal stores, they had no private property. It 112 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:43,120 Speaker 1: was the deal that they had made, right, the price 113 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:45,400 Speaker 1: they had to pay to get the funding that they 114 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:48,839 Speaker 1: needed to leave Europe. Now, of course that arrangement it 115 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: might sound fine on paper, but when you combine a 116 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: harsh winter, constant sickness, you got starvation, you got the 117 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: stress of trying to build a shelter from scratch. The 118 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: cracks in the system all started to show up really fast. Okay, 119 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:04,920 Speaker 1: now fast forwarding the first few years, to say the least, 120 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:08,840 Speaker 1: they're rough sixteen twenty one, sixteen twenty two, about two 121 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,840 Speaker 1: full years. Right, they were operating under the same communal structure. Right, 122 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:16,599 Speaker 1: No one owned anything, no houses, no crops. Everything was 123 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 1: going back to the investors that gave him the money. 124 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: There's really important, really interesting piece of the story I 125 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 1: got to tell you about. It's sort of like this impossible, 126 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: unlikely chain of events. The Pilgrims didn't go through all 127 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: this alone. In March of sixteen twenty one, four months 128 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:37,200 Speaker 1: after they arrived, they met Samoset. He was an Abernaki 129 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:41,160 Speaker 1: who had learned broken English from fishermen up in Maine. 130 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,479 Speaker 1: And then the next day he brings Squanto, who didn't 131 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: just know a few words of English, he spoke fluent English. 132 00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 1: And squad Sho's story is completely unbelievable. He had been 133 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:56,240 Speaker 1: kidnapped years earlier by an English trader, taken all the 134 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:59,840 Speaker 1: way to Spain, rescued by monks sent to England, he 135 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,159 Speaker 1: learned the language, and eventually he made his way back 136 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: all the way back to the New World, only to 137 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,600 Speaker 1: find his entire tribe had been wiped out by a plague. 138 00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 1: So when the Pilgrims landed on that exact spot, Squanto 139 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 1: was the only survivor living alone. Now he becomes their translator, 140 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:21,960 Speaker 1: He became their guide. It's miraculous, right. Even secular historians 141 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: admit the timing is astonishing. Now Bradford said, quote Squanto 142 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:30,400 Speaker 1: was a special instrument sent of God for our good. 143 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: He taught us how to plant corn, where to take fish, 144 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: and how to procure other commodities. So Squanto helped them 145 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: a lot. He taught them how to plant he had 146 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:41,680 Speaker 1: taught him, how to plant with fish fertilizer, how to 147 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: use local crops like corn, how to find eels in 148 00:07:44,440 --> 00:07:47,480 Speaker 1: the mudflats. He served as an interpreter with leather local 149 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 1: tribe leaders. But and this is the part that often 150 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: gets glossed over, even with the native assistance, the system 151 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 1: they were working under still didn't function well because the 152 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:01,040 Speaker 1: problem wasn't how to farm, it wasn't how to fish. 153 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:04,680 Speaker 1: They learned that the problem was the structure of the labor. 154 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 2: You see. 155 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 1: The communal arrangement that they had meant nobody had a 156 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: personal stake in how much they produced. Everything went into 157 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 1: the commons store. Everyone drew the same rations. Bradford writes 158 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 1: that during these years, especially through the sixteen twenty two 159 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,320 Speaker 1: planting and harvest cycle, the younger man who were able 160 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:27,240 Speaker 1: to work the hardest, felt it was unfair. He uses 161 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 1: the word injustice, that their extra labor would support other 162 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:35,440 Speaker 1: families while their own families didn't receive any added benefit. 163 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: Now he's really clear about this. He says it quote 164 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:43,079 Speaker 1: dispirited them, It made them quote slower to work. All right, 165 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: Now that's his wording, that's not mine. Now, Winslow says 166 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:49,560 Speaker 1: the same thing, noting that quote all men have this 167 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:53,600 Speaker 1: corruption in them end quote, meaning basically that men have 168 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: a natural tendency to look out for their own family first. 169 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 1: Not a big surprise. So this isn't a moral judgment. 170 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: He wasn't saying that. He was simply recording what he 171 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:07,400 Speaker 1: was seeing. Now, when you disconnect effort from reward, even 172 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:11,640 Speaker 1: good hardworking people, they naturally start doing the minimum, especially 173 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: when they're already exhausted, they're hungry, they're grieving the loss 174 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:18,360 Speaker 1: of their loved ones. Right, you don't need economic theory 175 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,720 Speaker 1: modern economics to explain that. The primary sources they already 176 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:26,000 Speaker 1: tell you exactly what happened. Now, then Bradford records something 177 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,640 Speaker 1: that really stands out. The women that were left they 178 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:33,520 Speaker 1: were frustrated because under the communal system they were expected 179 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: to cook and clean not only for their own families, 180 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 1: but also for the single men in the colony. Bradford says, 181 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 1: they considered this quote a kind of slavery. 182 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:43,120 Speaker 2: End quote. 183 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:45,960 Speaker 1: Now, again, that's his language. Now, keep in mind, these 184 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 1: are women who had just buried after community. They were 185 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:51,680 Speaker 1: raising children in freezing conditions. They were being asked to 186 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: double their labor but no added benefit. So of course 187 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:58,400 Speaker 1: that created resentment. After two full planting and harvest seasons, 188 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:02,440 Speaker 1: by sixteen to twenty, it became obvious to everyone that 189 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:03,920 Speaker 1: this arrangement was not working. 190 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:05,720 Speaker 2: It's not going to work. It wouldn't work. 191 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 1: Now they weren't starving quite as bad as the first 192 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: season because they had learned to fish right now, they'd planted, 193 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:13,840 Speaker 1: they learned how to work with the local tribes. But 194 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,679 Speaker 1: the underlying system it was still the same, It was 195 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 1: still holding the back. Bradford says very plainly that it 196 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:24,920 Speaker 1: quote retarded much employment, meaning it slowed down, right. It 197 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,280 Speaker 1: slowed people down that otherwise would have been capable, right 198 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:30,960 Speaker 1: if the incentives had been aligned with their families own 199 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:33,560 Speaker 1: well being. So now you kind of have this perfect 200 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:37,079 Speaker 1: storm two brutal years. Half the colony's dead, they're gone. 201 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:40,120 Speaker 1: Productivity is stuck in this in this mud. If you will, 202 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:44,240 Speaker 1: you have constant frustration. Everyone knows that something has to 203 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:46,680 Speaker 1: change before the next harvest cycle, or they're probably not 204 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:48,600 Speaker 1: going to make it right. They can't keep doing this 205 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 1: for another year. They're not going to survive. And that's 206 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,520 Speaker 1: what brings us to the spring of sixteen twenty three, 207 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:56,960 Speaker 1: and this is the moment where the entire direction of 208 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:59,480 Speaker 1: the colony changed. The colony got a visit from someone 209 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: who's in incredibly important to the story, someone you've probably 210 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: never heard about because he's not really talked about much anymore. 211 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:09,680 Speaker 1: His name is Robert Cushman. Now Cushman was basically a deacon. 212 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:11,719 Speaker 1: He was a representative of the church all the way 213 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: back over in Leaden. Now he stayed back in England. 214 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:18,160 Speaker 1: He was helping negotiate the financial, the legal arrangements for 215 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:20,640 Speaker 1: the voyage and he finally made it over to Plymouth 216 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:23,199 Speaker 1: in late sixteen twenty one. And while he was there 217 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:25,800 Speaker 1: they asked him to preach, So he does. He gives 218 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:29,360 Speaker 1: a sermon, and we know the exact text he preached 219 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:32,719 Speaker 1: because he later published it. It's from First Corinthians ten 220 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 1: twenty four. He said, let no man seek his own, 221 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:40,000 Speaker 1: but every man another's wealth. Now the word wealth there, 222 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:43,480 Speaker 1: it doesn't mean money. It means your neighbor's well being. 223 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:45,520 Speaker 2: It's their good right. 224 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 1: This idea is basically, don't live in a way that 225 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:52,000 Speaker 1: only prioritizes yourself, use your freedom in a way that 226 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:56,080 Speaker 1: considers the whole community. Now, of course this hits pretty hard, 227 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: right then at that point for that group, right, they've 228 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 1: been through starvation, they've been through sickness, loss of family members, 229 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:05,040 Speaker 1: a lot of stress. And here's what's important to remember 230 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:07,880 Speaker 1: about this. Cushman wasn't telling them to stay in this 231 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:11,440 Speaker 1: communal system. He wasn't defending the system that they had. 232 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,800 Speaker 1: He said that people were not motivated to be working 233 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:18,120 Speaker 1: for others' behalves with no benefit to themselves, and this 234 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 1: new system needed to be set up. But he was 235 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:24,480 Speaker 1: calling out he was warning that selfishness could and it 236 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:29,080 Speaker 1: would destroy any system. So he's addressing the heart of 237 00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:32,440 Speaker 1: the people, not the structure they had set up. And Bradford, 238 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:34,760 Speaker 1: he took this sermon seriously. You can see it in 239 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 1: his writing. So this sermon becomes almost like this spiritual 240 00:12:38,679 --> 00:12:39,720 Speaker 1: reset for the colony. 241 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:39,959 Speaker 2: Right. 242 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 1: It doesn't change the economic system. That part comes a 243 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:46,840 Speaker 1: little bit later, but it gets their mindset aligned around 244 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 1: the idea that something isn't working and if they're going 245 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:52,440 Speaker 1: to survive, they can't afford to give into the natural 246 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:55,080 Speaker 1: resentment that was already starting to show up there. All right, 247 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:57,840 Speaker 1: So this is where the two forces they start to converge. 248 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: On one side, you have a system that's not produced 249 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:03,240 Speaker 1: enough to sustain the colony. On the other side, you 250 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 1: have a pastor reminding them that even when a system's broken, 251 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:11,400 Speaker 1: people still need each other, that motives matter. He's basically saying, 252 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:14,360 Speaker 1: if you're gonna make change, you'd better do it with 253 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:17,480 Speaker 1: the right heart, because otherwise the change won't help you. 254 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:20,400 Speaker 1: So now we have fast forwarding again. We're in the 255 00:13:20,440 --> 00:13:23,520 Speaker 1: spring of sixteen twenty three. Now this is where the 256 00:13:23,559 --> 00:13:27,120 Speaker 1: real pivot starts to happen. Bradford says, quote. So they 257 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,560 Speaker 1: began to think how they might raise as much corner 258 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:33,880 Speaker 1: as they could and obtain a better crop than they 259 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: had done. So this wasn't some philosophical conversation about political theory, right. 260 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:43,199 Speaker 1: They weren't debating ideology here. They were trying to survive 261 00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 1: the next winner. They knew that if they repeated the 262 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: last two years, they weren't gonna make it. So the 263 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 1: question becomes, what can we change right now before we 264 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:56,040 Speaker 1: start planting that might give us even a small chance 265 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:58,880 Speaker 1: at getting a better harvest. Now, after a lot of discussion, 266 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:02,960 Speaker 1: Bradford immediate explains the decision that followed. He said, so 267 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:06,719 Speaker 1: they assigned to every family a parcel of land for 268 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:10,440 Speaker 1: that year only, all right, So they gave them land. 269 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 1: It wasn't a big farm, it wasn't private ownership in 270 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: the legal sense. 271 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 2: But they had a small, defined. 272 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: Parcel for each household to plant, one that they could 273 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:22,440 Speaker 1: work for themselves during that season. The idea was pretty simple, right, 274 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:25,200 Speaker 1: let each family work its own piece of land and 275 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 1: then keep the fruits of their own labor. 276 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 2: Right. 277 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 1: He describes the reason for the change. He said, this 278 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 1: had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious. 279 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:36,920 Speaker 2: And remember this. 280 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 1: Was still technically within this seven year contract where they 281 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: had with the investors, right, so they weren't carrying that 282 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:46,320 Speaker 1: agreement up. They weren't abandoning the communal storehouses entirely. But 283 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: what they were doing was creating this parallel structure. This 284 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:52,840 Speaker 1: parallel system at least for the corner anyway, because the 285 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:56,440 Speaker 1: old structure wasn't working. It felt them twice. Now, Bradford 286 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:59,200 Speaker 1: explains what a major shift this was. For two years 287 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:01,920 Speaker 1: they had been trying to forced themselves into this structure. 288 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 1: It didn't match how people actually behave. And now, for 289 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: the first time since leaving Europe, they took this step forward, 290 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 1: something closer to personal responsibility direct incentives. And Bradford says 291 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:15,680 Speaker 1: something that I think really captures the mindset at that moment. 292 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: He writes that this change was made to raise a 293 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: better crop. Such a simple phrase, but it shows you 294 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 1: exactly where their priorities were. Right. They weren't trying to 295 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: mad political statements, right, This wasn't a rejection of their 296 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 1: investor's theology, right, it was survival. 297 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:33,720 Speaker 2: They needed corn. So that's the shift. 298 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 1: Early spring sixteen twenty three, for two years of communal 299 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 1: label they divided the land into small plots, assigning each 300 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: one of the households. They gave each family the responsibility 301 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:46,440 Speaker 1: to work its own acre and then keep what it produced. Now, 302 00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: it's right after the decision, in the weeks in the 303 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:52,120 Speaker 1: months that followed that everything starts to change. So the 304 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:55,440 Speaker 1: results started coming in almost immediately. Bradford, he was really 305 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: clear about what happened next. He writes that this new 306 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:01,960 Speaker 1: arrangement quote had very goods success, for it made all 307 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:05,360 Speaker 1: hands very industrious. Now he goes even further. He says, 308 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,200 Speaker 1: even the women who had been frustrated by the communal 309 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:10,720 Speaker 1: system and all the extra work it required of them, 310 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:15,400 Speaker 1: now went willingly into the field. That's his word, willingly. 311 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: And when you read that in his account, you can 312 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: almost feel the relief in the colony because for the 313 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:24,200 Speaker 1: first time since landing back in sixteen twenty, people had 314 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:27,080 Speaker 1: a reason to work harder than just the minimum amount 315 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:30,960 Speaker 1: of work. Right, the effort connected directly to their own 316 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:35,040 Speaker 1: family's survival. Right Again, this isn't ideology. This is the 317 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: governor of the colony writing down exactly what happened in 318 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:41,640 Speaker 1: real time. They went from two years of almost starving, 319 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:45,360 Speaker 1: a frustration of low productivity, to suddenly this community where 320 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:48,120 Speaker 1: people were motivated when the work was getting done, where 321 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:51,440 Speaker 1: the harvest was noticeably better. Now, Bradford says, this change 322 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:55,400 Speaker 1: made all hands more industrious. Now, when you put that 323 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:59,120 Speaker 1: alongside the previous year's journals, you see the difference. Like 324 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:02,880 Speaker 1: almost immediately turns out, this one structural change giving families 325 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:06,080 Speaker 1: responsibility for their own plots unlocked something that hadn't been 326 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:09,520 Speaker 1: there before. Now the results of your labor fed your 327 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:13,280 Speaker 1: own family. Now your extra effort, it mattered. Now human 328 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:17,400 Speaker 1: nature responded exactly the way you would expect. Bradford also 329 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:19,359 Speaker 1: uses this moment to reflect on what they had been 330 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:22,080 Speaker 1: trying to do under the communal arrangement. He says, quote, 331 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:25,720 Speaker 1: I thought this course would produce equality and the sharing 332 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:31,399 Speaker 1: of benefits, but in practice it brought confusion and discontent. Now, 333 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:34,400 Speaker 1: seeing the results of sixteen twenty three shift, he basically 334 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:38,399 Speaker 1: admits that the earlier model was working against the natural 335 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:41,640 Speaker 1: motivations of the people. The colony finally sees what's been 336 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:44,920 Speaker 1: obvious through two years of hardship. Now, if you want 337 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:48,640 Speaker 1: people to produce more, how to give them responsibility over 338 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:52,200 Speaker 1: the results of their own labor. And for the first 339 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:57,280 Speaker 1: time since they arrived, they have this harvest, a huge bounty. 340 00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:00,639 Speaker 1: This harvest reflected the effort they put in, and that 341 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:03,680 Speaker 1: sets up the next major shift because the very next year, 342 00:18:03,840 --> 00:18:07,560 Speaker 1: sixteen twenty four, they look at how well this worked, right, 343 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:10,879 Speaker 1: They decide, Shoot, this worked really good. Why don't we 344 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:13,440 Speaker 1: do more of it? Why don't we take that idea 345 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:18,040 Speaker 1: even further? They thought, if giving each family their own 346 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,479 Speaker 1: plot increased productivity that much in just one season, what 347 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 1: would happen if they expanded that idea. Now, Bradford tells 348 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:27,480 Speaker 1: us exactly what they did the very next year, in 349 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:30,240 Speaker 1: the spring of sixteen twenty four. He says, they decided 350 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:33,920 Speaker 1: to make those assignments, those plots of land, more permanent 351 00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:36,879 Speaker 1: because what they had was this rotating system where the 352 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 1: land was reassigned every year. So it made an improvement, 353 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:42,840 Speaker 1: but it was creating another problem that they hadn't really 354 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:45,640 Speaker 1: thought about. Right, and again, this is common sense when 355 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: you look backwards. Right, if you know that you're only 356 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:51,840 Speaker 1: going to keep the farm, keep this piece of land 357 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:54,440 Speaker 1: for one year, then you're not really going to invest. 358 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 2: That much time into improving it. 359 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,200 Speaker 1: Right. You'll plant, you'll harvest, and then you're going to 360 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:00,320 Speaker 1: move on. But if you know the land going to 361 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:02,200 Speaker 1: stay with you, if it's going to stay with your 362 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 1: family over time, then you start thinking about clearing more brush, 363 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: removing more rocks, improving the soil, maybe building a fence, 364 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: maybe putting up this small structure. So Bradford explains that 365 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:18,760 Speaker 1: they decided to set off basically take these plots and 366 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 1: make them more permanent so people had an incentive to 367 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 1: make long term improvements. They could start thinking longer term 368 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:28,199 Speaker 1: instead of just doing the minimum for one season. And 369 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:32,000 Speaker 1: this point is super important for today's context. He states 370 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: it super plainly that they saw the results and they 371 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:39,239 Speaker 1: adjusted the system to match was actually working. Imagine that 372 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:43,520 Speaker 1: what a concept doing more of what works doing less 373 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:47,400 Speaker 1: of what doesn't. There's a lesson for all of us. Right, 374 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:50,080 Speaker 1: Governments today could learn from this as well. Now, once 375 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:52,600 Speaker 1: they saw the structure that worked, it committed to it 376 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 1: after seeing several years of results. Bradford writes one of 377 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:59,120 Speaker 1: the strongest critiques of forced communal living that we've ever seen, 378 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:01,600 Speaker 1: at least from that era. He says the success of 379 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:05,360 Speaker 1: the new system proved quote the vanity of the conceit 380 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,840 Speaker 1: of Plato's and others ancients who thought that taking away 381 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:12,800 Speaker 1: private property and bringing everything into community would make people 382 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:16,000 Speaker 1: happy and flourishing. And then he adds this line that 383 00:20:16,119 --> 00:20:19,160 Speaker 1: hit super hard. He said they acted quote as if 384 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:22,520 Speaker 1: they were wiser than God. Now Bradford's not just thrown 385 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: around philosophy here, right, He's a governor. Right, he's also 386 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,360 Speaker 1: a church leader. He's a man who's kept his colony 387 00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:31,240 Speaker 1: alive now for multiple years. So when he says something 388 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:34,479 Speaker 1: like that, he's speaking from this lived experience he's been 389 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:37,040 Speaker 1: going through. Right, he watched the communal system fail for 390 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: two years straight. He watched productivity explode the moment families 391 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:43,680 Speaker 1: had control over their own plots, over their own destiny, 392 00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:46,280 Speaker 1: and he knew exactly what the lesson was here. And 393 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:48,360 Speaker 1: what I like about the way Bradford writes is that 394 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:50,760 Speaker 1: he doesn't just try to moralize, right, He doesn't try 395 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:51,840 Speaker 1: to turn this into a sermon. 396 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:53,159 Speaker 2: He just lays out the facts. 397 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:56,120 Speaker 1: He watched a communal system fall right for two years. 398 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:58,760 Speaker 1: They tried one model, the one required by the investors, 399 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 1: and it almost destroyed the colony. They tried another model, 400 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:05,359 Speaker 1: based on direct personal responsibility, and it worked immediately. 401 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:05,800 Speaker 2: Right. 402 00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:09,439 Speaker 1: He's documenting the reality the same way you document evidence 403 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:12,840 Speaker 1: in a courtroom. And in sixteen twenty four, in that season, 404 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 1: it shows the results. 405 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 2: Right. 406 00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:19,040 Speaker 1: They had more food, they had better morale, the complaints disappeared, 407 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:22,879 Speaker 1: People were building, improving, They were producing above, way above 408 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:26,160 Speaker 1: previous levels. The colony was no longer the edge of collapse. 409 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,680 Speaker 1: It was finally stabilized. It was growing. That's the turning point, 410 00:21:30,320 --> 00:21:33,560 Speaker 1: Not the feast, not the holiday version we hear about Thanksgiving. 411 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:37,159 Speaker 1: The real shift, the permanent change was when they align 412 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:40,600 Speaker 1: their system with human nature instead of fighting against it. Okay, 413 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:42,600 Speaker 1: So when you step back and you look at this 414 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:46,200 Speaker 1: whole sequence, the winter of sixteen twenty, the communal system 415 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:48,600 Speaker 1: in sixteen twenty one and twenty two, the shift in 416 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,919 Speaker 1: sixteen twenty three, the improvements in sixteen twenty four, you 417 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 1: start to see a pattern. It's actually pretty hard to ignore. Right, 418 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,959 Speaker 1: And again, this isn't political, it's not ideological, it isn't theoretical. 419 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:00,000 Speaker 2: It's just what happened. 420 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:04,080 Speaker 1: When they had a system that disconnected effort from outcome. 421 00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:06,480 Speaker 2: Everything slowed down, people. 422 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:10,160 Speaker 1: Worked less, resentment built up, food production stalled. When they 423 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:13,840 Speaker 1: finally aligned the structure with basic human behavior, when families 424 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:16,840 Speaker 1: were responsible for their own plots and kept the results 425 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:20,960 Speaker 1: of their own labor, productivity went up immediately. And I 426 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,240 Speaker 1: think the key point here is that the Pilgrims weren't 427 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:26,200 Speaker 1: figuring this out as some kind of philosophical exercise, right. 428 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:28,680 Speaker 1: They were figuring it out while trying not to starve 429 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: to death. They didn't have the luxury of arguing about 430 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:34,880 Speaker 1: how people should behave. They had to work with how 431 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:38,880 Speaker 1: people actually do behave in real time. In Bradford and Winslow. 432 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 1: They both described this very plainly right. People naturally take 433 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:46,200 Speaker 1: better care of what they're responsible for. They naturally work 434 00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:49,919 Speaker 1: harder when their families benefit from the results. They naturally 435 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:54,760 Speaker 1: get frustrated when their extra effort doesn't make any different. Now, 436 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:57,679 Speaker 1: none of this was shocking to them once they actually 437 00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:00,200 Speaker 1: lived through it. But there's another side of this that's 438 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:02,520 Speaker 1: just as important, because if you only focus on the 439 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:05,639 Speaker 1: economic piece, the incentives and the productivity, you missed the 440 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,680 Speaker 1: other piece that kept all of them together, and that 441 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:10,240 Speaker 1: was their moral framework. 442 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:10,520 Speaker 2: Right. 443 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,159 Speaker 1: They still believed in looking out for each other. They 444 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:15,680 Speaker 1: still believed in charity. They believed in helping the weak 445 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:18,120 Speaker 1: and making sure that the widows the orphans were cared for. 446 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:21,359 Speaker 1: They believed in showing patience and grace when people struggled. 447 00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,560 Speaker 1: None of that ever went away. The sermon from Robert 448 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:28,280 Speaker 1: Cushman back in remember sixteen twenty one, let no man 449 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:32,120 Speaker 1: seek his own but every man another's wealth. It wasn't 450 00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:35,399 Speaker 1: telling them to keep that failing system, the communal system. 451 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,760 Speaker 1: It was reminding them not to lose their humanity when 452 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:40,960 Speaker 1: they fixed it. So what they ended up with, almost 453 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,639 Speaker 1: by accident, was this balance that's actually it's pretty rare. 454 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:49,880 Speaker 1: On one side, they embraced personal responsibility, the idea that 455 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:52,640 Speaker 1: your work should matter. On the other side, they had 456 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,600 Speaker 1: this moral standard right they made sure their freedom didn't 457 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:58,480 Speaker 1: turn into selfishness. So it wasn't one or the other, 458 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,919 Speaker 1: it was both. It was that combination that allowed the 459 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:05,119 Speaker 1: colony to stabilize and eventually thrive. And this matters today 460 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:08,160 Speaker 1: for everybody. It matters for Americans, it matters for whatever 461 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,680 Speaker 1: country you live in, because this isn't a pilgrim thing, 462 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:12,120 Speaker 1: this isn't a colonial thing. 463 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:13,480 Speaker 2: This is a human thing. 464 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:17,520 Speaker 1: Societies that ignore how people actually behave they tend to 465 00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:20,240 Speaker 1: run into the same problems, the same problems the Pilgrims 466 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:22,720 Speaker 1: ran into in sixteen, twenty one and twenty two. And 467 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: societies that pair personal responsibility with a moral culture tend 468 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 1: to produce more prosper more and they stay stable longer. 469 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:33,159 Speaker 1: You see the pattern of history again and again. And 470 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:35,480 Speaker 1: the Pilgrims just happened to be one of the earliest 471 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:40,439 Speaker 1: documented examples in the New World. So the real Thanksgiving story, 472 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:43,320 Speaker 1: the one we never hear, is that a starving colony 473 00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:47,960 Speaker 1: discovered a formula that works everywhere every time. Freedom without 474 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:54,280 Speaker 1: morality collapses, morality without responsibility stagnates. But when you put 475 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 1: both together, people flourish. And that discovery is what sets 476 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,280 Speaker 1: the stage for what comes next in this American story. 477 00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:04,200 Speaker 1: All right, now, let's fast forward one hundred and fifty years. 478 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 1: The little struggling colony at Plymouth has now grown into 479 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,720 Speaker 1: a nation, a nation that's just fought a war for independence, 480 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:14,400 Speaker 1: written a constitution, and finally managed to form a stable 481 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:19,040 Speaker 1: government under the first US President, George Washington. Now, of course, Washington, 482 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:21,920 Speaker 1: he knew the early colonial history. He knew it really well, 483 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,679 Speaker 1: right the founders. They read Bradford's writings. They understood what 484 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,760 Speaker 1: those early settlements went through. They understood how close things 485 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:32,040 Speaker 1: came to failing. So when Washington becomes president in seventeen 486 00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,680 Speaker 1: eighty nine, one of the first things Congress asked him 487 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,640 Speaker 1: to do is issue a proclamation calling for a national 488 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:40,119 Speaker 1: Day of Thanksgiving. 489 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:42,360 Speaker 2: And I love the way that he frames. 490 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,359 Speaker 1: This up because he doesn't talk about the harvests, he 491 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,120 Speaker 1: doesn't talk about the feasts, the celebrations, doesn't talk about 492 00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:50,680 Speaker 1: any of that. Instead, he focuses on the same themes 493 00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:55,880 Speaker 1: the Pilgrims lived through, provision, survival, protection, and the idea 494 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:59,120 Speaker 1: that a nation's prosperity is tied to something bigger than 495 00:25:59,119 --> 00:26:03,160 Speaker 1: its own effort. In the Proclamation dated October third, seventeen 496 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:06,160 Speaker 1: eighty nine, Washington writes that the country ought to give 497 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:10,359 Speaker 1: thanks to God for his quote kind care and protection 498 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:14,080 Speaker 1: before the revolution, or his guidance during the war, and 499 00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:19,679 Speaker 1: for giving them the wisdom to establish a constitutional government afterward. Okay, 500 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:23,520 Speaker 1: that's how we got the Thanksgiving holiday. Washington didn't invent 501 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:26,080 Speaker 1: the holiday out of thin air. He formalized something the 502 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:31,160 Speaker 1: earliest settlers understood at a visceral level that without divine help, 503 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:34,720 Speaker 1: without some kind of moral backbone and the courage to 504 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:37,600 Speaker 1: correct when the system is broken, there probably wouldn't be 505 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:39,560 Speaker 1: a country at all. Now, he's doing it at a 506 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 1: time when the United States was young. It was fragile, right, 507 00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:44,240 Speaker 1: it was still trying to prove it could survive as 508 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 1: a self governing nation. And you can see the pattern 509 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,439 Speaker 1: pretty clear when you look backwards. Right, the Pilgrims figured 510 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:51,920 Speaker 1: out the hard way that you need to do things 511 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:56,000 Speaker 1: to survive, people taking responsibility for themselves, a more culture 512 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 1: that keeps everyone grounded. And Washington is saying the same 513 00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:04,000 Speaker 1: thing on a national level, that liberty and prosperity aren't automatic. 514 00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:08,359 Speaker 1: They don't continue on their own. There has to be gratitude, humility, 515 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,760 Speaker 1: and a willingness to recognize how dependent a society is 516 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:15,639 Speaker 1: on both good systems and good character. So the Thanksgiving 517 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 1: we know today the national holiday, it's not really about 518 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,000 Speaker 1: the feast in sixteen twenty one. It's about what the 519 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:25,600 Speaker 1: country learned because of that experience and everything that followed. 520 00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:29,320 Speaker 1: It's about acknowledging providence in the middle of struggle. It's 521 00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:33,520 Speaker 1: about recognizing that freedom works when people are grounded morally. 522 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:37,800 Speaker 1: It's about understanding that prosperity doesn't come from force or 523 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:41,880 Speaker 1: central planning, but from individuals taking responsibility for their own 524 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:45,399 Speaker 1: lives while still caring for the community around them. And 525 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:48,719 Speaker 1: when Washington set that last Thursday of November a side 526 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:52,480 Speaker 1: as the day of Gratitude, he's essentially reminding the entire 527 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:56,200 Speaker 1: nation of that formula, the same one the Pilgrims learned 528 00:27:56,320 --> 00:28:01,680 Speaker 1: through starvation, hard winters, and years of trial and Erroritude, responsibility, 529 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:05,520 Speaker 1: moral courage. That's the through line of the whole story, 530 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:07,760 Speaker 1: and that brings us to the final part of the story. 531 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:11,400 Speaker 1: What all this means for us right now today, When 532 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:13,919 Speaker 1: you look at the whole story, not the school version, 533 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:18,439 Speaker 1: not the cartoon version, what actually happened, it's hard not 534 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:21,280 Speaker 1: to see how relevant it still is for us today. 535 00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:24,280 Speaker 1: The Pilgrims weren't trying to make a point about economics 536 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:27,640 Speaker 1: or political theory. They were just trying to stay alive. 537 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:30,679 Speaker 1: And what they learned in those first few years is 538 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:34,560 Speaker 1: the same thing that every society ends up learning sooner 539 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:38,560 Speaker 1: or later. Systems that ignore how people actually behave eventually 540 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:42,120 Speaker 1: break down. Systems that give people responsibility but keep it 541 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:45,000 Speaker 1: tied to a strong moral culture tend to work. And 542 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:47,920 Speaker 1: I think that's why this story still matters today, even 543 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:50,760 Speaker 1: if you're not an American, because every country is dealing 544 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:55,200 Speaker 1: with the same tension. How do you balance freedom with responsibility? 545 00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:58,400 Speaker 1: How do you keep a society productive without losing sight 546 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:00,760 Speaker 1: of compassion? How do you build It's something that lasts 547 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:04,520 Speaker 1: longer than one generation. So what Washington reminded the country 548 00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:06,320 Speaker 1: of was prosperity isn't automatic. 549 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:08,920 Speaker 2: You don't get freedom and just assume it's going to 550 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:09,920 Speaker 2: keep running on its own. 551 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:14,160 Speaker 1: It needs gratitude, it needs freedom, It needs a moral foundation. 552 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 1: But what we're seeing today is a growing trend of 553 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:20,640 Speaker 1: governments trying to centrally manage everything. Economy is struggling under 554 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:25,040 Speaker 1: systems that disconnect effort from outcomes, people losing sight of 555 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:28,000 Speaker 1: the responsibilities that make freedom possible in the first place. 556 00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:30,440 Speaker 1: It's the same problem that the Pilgrims ran into in 557 00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:33,440 Speaker 1: sixteen twenty one and sixteen twenty two, just on a 558 00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:36,320 Speaker 1: bigger scale. But the flip side is just as true. 559 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,640 Speaker 1: When families take responsibility, when people are free to build, 560 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:42,680 Speaker 1: when communities have a moral backbone, things tend to grow, 561 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:46,440 Speaker 1: they prosper. So when we talk about Thanksgiving, the real one, 562 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:50,680 Speaker 1: not the sanitized version, we're talking about a hard earned lesson. 563 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:53,239 Speaker 1: That's just as true in twenty twenty five as it 564 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:56,320 Speaker 1: was in sixteen twenty three. And if there's anything worth 565 00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:59,400 Speaker 1: giving thanks for, it's the clarity that comes from seeing 566 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:02,880 Speaker 1: what actually works and the courage to build it. Hopefully 567 00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:06,040 Speaker 1: enjoyed that thanksgiving lesson that we have today. It's not 568 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:08,920 Speaker 1: my typical content. If you want more people to see this, 569 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:11,040 Speaker 1: please share it with them like comment, let me know 570 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:14,040 Speaker 1: what you think. Should I continue this tradition of Rush 571 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:16,000 Speaker 1: Limbaugh and read this out every single year so we 572 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:18,320 Speaker 1: can keep this lesson alive. Let me know in the 573 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:22,040 Speaker 1: comments down below. Happy Thanksgiving, Dear success, come out.