Holiday Open Thread: Rush Limbaugh Tells 'The True Story of Thanksgiving'

November 25th, 2010 10:16 AM

There are many historical descriptions of what happened hundreds of years ago at Plymouth Rock.

On Wednesday, Rush Limbaugh told his listeners what he called in his second book "Dead White Guys, or What the History Books Never Told You: The True Story of Thanksgiving" (video follows with partial transcript):

The story of the Pilgrims begins in the early part of the seventeenth century ... The Church of England under King James I was persecuting anyone and everyone who did not recognize its absolute civil and spiritual authority. Those who challenged ecclesiastical authority and those who believed strongly in freedom of worship were hunted down, imprisoned, and sometimes executed for their beliefs. A group of separatists first fled to Holland and established a community.

After eleven years, about forty of them agreed to make a perilous journey to the New World, where they would certainly face hardships, but could live and worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences. On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible. The Pilgrims were a people completely steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments. They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example.

Read the rest here.

Happy Thanksgiving.