Thanksgiving for the American Dedication to the Common Good

I’m not quite sure why it is that so many of my students really believe that the signal trait of the U.S. is a radical individualism that doesn’t even blink at suggestions that something like, say, Social Security is “socialism,” but it certainly isn’t a firm grasp of history. The Pilgrims whom we celebrate tomorrow themselves promised in their Mayflower Compact that they were each dedicated to the good of the community and that their laws were to be those intended for the general good:

We whose names are underwritten . . . covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony: unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

Happy Thanksgiving, to all, and to all for whom it isn’t, may we all strive to make next year’s better.