<p>It’s wrong to say that American was founded by capitalists. In fact, America was founded by socialists who had the humility to learn from their initial mistakes and embrace freedom. One of the earliest and arguably most historically significant North American colonies was Plymouth Colony, founded in 1620 in what is now known as Plymouth, Massachusetts. As I’ve outlined in greater detail here before (<a href="http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/11/27/thanksgiving-economy-history-oped-cx_jb_1127bowyer.html%29" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Lessons From a Capitalist Thanksgiving</span></a>), the original colony had written into its charter a system of communal property and labor. As William Bradford recorded in his <em>Of Plymouth Plantation</em>, a people who had formerly been known for their virtue and hard work became lazy and unproductive. Resources were squandered, vegetables were allowed to rot on the ground and mass starvation was the result. And where there is starvation, there is plague. After 2 1/2 years, the leaders of the colony decided to abandon their socialist mandate and create a system which honored private property. The colony survived and thrived and the abundance which resulted was what was celebrated at that iconic Thanksgiving feast.   <a href="http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/jerrybowyer/2012/11/23/how_a_failed_commune_gave_us_what_is_now_thanksgiving" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="font-size: small;"><strong>READ</strong></span></span></a>  <img src="images/stories/townhalllogo.jpg" border="0" alt="Townhall" hspace="7" align="left" /></p>