“White man speaks with forked tongue,” Chief Joseph

Thanksgiving! What a perfect time to extol the wonders of capitalism (avarice, envy, greed and gluttony) and to castigate the horrors of socialism (a system in which the production of goods and services is a shared responsibility of a group of people). Mr. Balentine’s rosy picture of the 1621 Thanksgiving at Plymouth shows that he was home schooled and with alternative facts.

The 1621 celebration (with 90 Wampanoag Indians and 50 Pilgrims) sealed a peace treaty between the two groups. The Indian population was subsequently decimated by disease introduced by the  Europeans. As more Europeans arrived, the struggle for land and resources resulted in King Philip’s War (1675-1676) and King Philip (Chief Metacom, who was at the 1621 celebration) was drawn  and quartered, his head displayed on a stake in Plymouth. Apparently, treaties are evolving arrangements, like our so-called democracy and arrangements with the Taliban, Kurds, etc.

Describing Plymouth’s early days as a failed socialist experiment is an old conservative ploy that Joshua Keating’s “The People’s Republic of Plymouth” debunks. Apparently, the concept of “the commons” and open field farming are no-no’s for Mr. Balentine. Today’s political turmoil is because one party refuses to agree on verifiable realities like global warming and high crimes and misdemeanors.

Mr. Balentine’s “socialist hawkers” turn out to be mostly communists: Karl Marx (“The Communist Manifesto”); Vladimir Lenin (Bolshevik/communist leader); Mao Zedong (Chinese communist leader). Senator Warren is a declared capitalist. Only Senator Sanders (a Democratic Socialist) and Hugo Chavez are socialists. Well, 1½ correct answers out of six tries isn’t that bad for someone who was home schooled.

Personally, I am grateful this Thanksgiving that I can distinguish between Shineola and the stuff Mr. Balentine pumps out without having to use the reliable taste test.

William Hill
Standish