I really hate it when people use history to make a point andf then make up the facts to suit their presentation. I was reading a transcript of a Rush Limbaugh show where he said:
“On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford.”
Actually, I believe the first governor was name Carver, Bradford became the leader after his death.
There is more:
Now, you know the usual story of Thanksgiving: They landed. They had no clue where they were, no idea how to feed themselves. The Indians came out, showed ’em how to pop popcorn, fed ’em turkey, saved ’em basically — and then white European settlers after that basically wiped out the Indian population.”
He was right, this is not true either. The Natives showed up at a harvest festival but brought NO food. It was there custom that the guess was fed and entertained. The Pilgrims had guns and hopefully knew how to hunt. The Pilgrims were taught to plant by one Indian, Squanto. The Indians needed the whites as allies against their neighboring tribes. So it was a mutal pact.
But what Rush was basically doing was saying that the original “socialistic” community doid not work…but it did…it was the only thing that kept the Pilgrims alive….since out of the original 100 or so..less than 40 survived the first winter. If they had not pulled together then they could have made all Indians happy by perishing.
Rush needs more fact and less fiction…he would look more informede…but then his listeners have NEVER allowed facts to cloud their judgement.