A Proper(tarian) Thanksgiving

Some of the links on last year's Thanksgiving post are broken, so I'll briefly quote and update here:

Thursday, November 25, 2004

Thanksgiving & Private Property

On Thanksgiving, libertarians like to tell the lesser-known story of the early Pilgrims, their initial communism, their early famine, and their physical salvation through the institution of private property. It's not the version we were taught in elementary school (government- or private school), nor on television, nor in children's books, but you can read about it ...

... here:

• "Giving Thanks for Private Property" by Tom Dilorenzo (LRC)
• "The Great Thanksgiving Hoax" by Richard J. Maybury (LvMI)
• " Our First Thanksgiving" by Sartell Prentice, Jr. (FEE)

If you read last year's post you can see how I deal with the extremely popular myth that American Indians had no concept of land property. (Here's the short version: Ask yourself what other practical options there are for dealing with scarcity. Addendum to the short version: Turns out the Indians had their own "tragedy of the commons" here and there.)

So far, in the set of stories the American culture tells itself about Thanksgiving, we have (1) the omission of the true story of communism and famine, (2) the addition of the false story of anti-propertarian "Native Americans" and now (3) Wally Conger brings up another critically important bit of lost Thanksgiving history:

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Rethinking Thanksgiving Day

From New York City?s The Plaindealer, Dec. 3, 1836, an editorial by William Leggett (1801-1839):

"Thursday, the fifteenth of the present month, has been designated by Governor Marcy, in his annual proclamation, as a day of general thanksgiving throughout this state.... [I]t may seem presumptuous to suggest an objection; yet there is one which we confess seems to us of weight, and we trust we shall not be thought governed by an irreligious spirit, if we take the liberty to urge it....

"It is to the source of the proclamation, not to its purpose, that we chiefly object. The recommending a day of thanksgiving is not properly any part of the duty of a political Chief Magistrate: it belongs, in its nature, to the heads of the church, not to the head of the state."

[Democratick Editorials: Essays in Jacksonian Political Economy, by William Leggett; Liberty Press, Indianapolis]

Note: Thanks, Ralph Raico, for drawing this editorial to my attention in lecture after lecture.

So to whom or to what are we thankful? And who's "we"?

There are lots of things that we as individuals will be giving thanks for today. I can't give an account of what you're thankful for, and I'll refrain from reviewing my own list, which would be interesting only to me. But what a larger "we" ought to give thanks for is private property.

(Those who are ideologically most opposed to private property are, in fact, exactly those who benefit most from it. The very fact that we have time for ideological debate is the product of the capital accumulation of others. And yes, this makes socialists ignorant and self-indulgent spoiled brats. QED.)

As to who "we" are -- the ones giving thanks for private property -- it ain't the state, folks, except inasmuch as private property becomes plunder for the political class.

So given that the fourth Thursday in November is a government holiday, what exactly do they want us to be thankful for? Whatever it is, I'm sure I want no part of it.

Nevertheless, many of us in the American anti-political class will be sharing a harvest meal with loved ones. Looks like Thanksgiving is another anarchist shadow holiday.

---

Updated links:

"Property Rights and the First Thanksgiving" by Gary Galles (LvMI)

"Private Enterprise Regained" by Henry Hazlitt [PDF] (FEE)

"Happy Private Property Day" by Jim Cox (LRC)

---

Another update:

In the comments section, Anthony Gregory offers a couple of links to his own writing on the present topic. I find this wonderful summary to get right to the heart of the matter:

We are told to be particularly thankful for the public schoolteachers, the police officers, the legislators, bureaucrats, and especially soldiers.

Now, it is perfectly fitting to appreciate the humanity of everyone in our society, particularly in the holiday season. Yet neglected by most official hosannas sung for those whom we presumably owe our loudest thanks are the greatest public servants of them all.

I am talking about the merchants, the farmers and truck drivers, the waiters and waitresses, the storeowners and bag boys. I'm referring to the businessmen and businesswomen, the producers and sellers, the investors, the stockholders and brokers, and the people in all walks of life who serve their fellow humans every day.

These people aren't usually considered public servants, but that is precisely what they are. By serving their customers, clients, and employers in the framework of the market economy, they create wealth where none before existed. In any voluntary market exchange, both consenting parties part with something they value less for something they value more. Whether it is labor, a good, or a service, each participant in the economy contributes something that ends up where it is most valued. Although most engage in transactions primarily for the benefit of themselves and perhaps their families, they cannot help aiding others in the process, both those with whom they directly exchange and, indirectly, all of us who buy or sell or work on the market.

Indeed, if it were not for the market, the politicians too would have no resources, no salaries, and much less to be thankful for. Whereas the so-called private sector produces wealth, the government produces nothing on its own; it gets its revenue purely by extracting it from the productive sector through taxes or inflation.

All the material wealth in our society was created by human effort, and we are an especially wealthy country because our economic system, whatever its many faults, rewards and encourages individual effort and channels it in ever more productive ways for the masses.