Freedom from Want
The Four Freedoms
Back in 1941, with fascism on the march around the world (that was the real fascism, not the Jonah Goldberg fiction), President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his stirring Four Freedoms Speech to Congress on January 6, 1941:
We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression… The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way… The third is freedom from want… The fourth is freedom from fear.
Illustrator Norman Rockwell was so inspired by the speech, he produced a series of covers for the Saturday Evening Post. The covers subsequently were turned into posters to help sell war bonds to fund the war in defense of these freedoms against real fascist totalitarianism.
And one of those iconic covers, Freedom from Want, has gone on to symbolize the Thanksgiving holiday for American families ever since.
“Come over and help us”
The Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony celebrated their first Thanksgiving on November 25, 1629. (This one should not be confused with the separatist Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving at Plymouth in 1621.) Yes, these are the Puritans of John Winthrop, who famously invoked the image of the “city upon a hill” in his “A Vision of Christian Charity” sermon.
And this is the official seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony:
Here’s a description of it the seal from Sarah Vowell’s wonderful book about the Puritans, The Wordy Shipmates:
The most ironic and entertaining example of that mind-set is the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s official seal. The seal, which the Winthrop fleet brought with them from England, pictures an Indian in a loincloth holding a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other. Words are coming out of his mouth. The Indian says, “Come over and help us.”
That is really what it says.
And we know how that all turned out.
So to you and your family, please have a happy – and safe — Turkey Day. For starters, remember to fully cook that bird. A whole turkey and turkey parts are safe when cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 165 °F as measured with a food thermometer.
And if you’re worried about overdoing it (that is unless your plan is to celebrate the Sin of Gluttony), here are some suggestions from the field of behaviorial economics that might HELP YOU avoid such a calamity.
Tags: "come over and help us", behavioral economics, fascism, gluttony, Jonah Goldberg, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Norman Rockwell, Puritans, Thanksgiving, The Four Freedoms
