Todd Akin: Pilgrims Came To America With The Idea 'Unbiblical' Socialism 'Wasn't Going To Work'

ThinkProgress:

To mark this holiday, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) took to the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday to explain its history. At one point, he opined, "It might be helpful to think back and say there's more to Thanksgiving than the Pilgrims." He explained that they were "a group of people who were willing to change the system, to think of different ideas."

Read the whole story: ThinkProgress

Comments

[Lozange]

05:19 PM on 11/29/2010

What does this guy call the tithe if not an early form of Socialism!?

[Badfinger1]

05:12 PM on 11/29/2010

...Actually..IN F"IN FACT!!!!!!!!
the pilgrims came here under a charter that that they would work COMMUNALLY in indentured servitude to pay back their benefactors......And by the freakin way... they were committed to NATURAL law and based evrything off the Bible...the exact opposite as the hemmoriod from Missouri states...The only thing that is learned in this article is that the "Roid" listens to and parrots Rush Limbaugh...How proud you must be, Mo....Whatacatdick...

[legalloon]

04:37 PM on 11/29/2010

is it just me, or do most of these guys look like used-car salesmen? they all have seem to have that toothy, fake grin and those cold, snakey eyes - yuck...

[JackHoffman]

04:28 PM on 11/29/2010

Do I have to stop car-pooling now?

[The other mike]

04:01 PM on 11/29/2010

Acts 2:44

"And the believers were together and had everything in common."

Sounds like socialism to me. Better strike it from the Bible.

[taddles]

03:54 PM on 11/29/2010

"They came here with the idea that after trying socialism that it wasn’t going to work. They realized that it was unbiblical, that it was a form of theft, so they pitched socialism out. They learned that in the early 1620’s."

This is why you baggers are not being taken seriously, you have a HUGE credibility problem, you are so notorious for just making stuff up that can be fact checked by any 12 year old with a internet account. This comment from this bagger Rep. is simply stup/d. The whole form of the early colonies was based on the "commons", where people used common grounds for planting, harvested together, and made food for the common meals. We call this socialism, they called it "everyone pitching in for the good of all".

Sadly, Rep. Akin doesn't understated "for the good of all", he just understands "for the good of himself and his cronies".

[bbbbjr]

03:34 PM on 11/29/2010

and if my akins had been on the mayflower with his "every man for himself" attitude, do you know how he would have fared? Dead...that's how.

not by starvation perhaps but most certainly at the hands of his fellow pioneers.

[Jeffer]

03:10 PM on 11/29/2010

Beck would likely tell you they were fleeing the socalist policies of Woodrow Wilson. Hey, what's a few hundred years either way?

[IDIOTA]

02:35 PM on 11/29/2010

Hee Haw is still on the air?

[IDIOTA]

02:32 PM on 11/29/2010

The GOP is always rewriting history -- and not well. Related -- What kind of GOPers will the Texas Board of Education be producing when their educational "reforms" are implemented?

[IDIOTA]

02:29 PM on 11/29/2010

I don't think, therefore. I ain't.

[IDIOTA]

02:25 PM on 11/29/2010

Dumb de dumb dumb...dumb de dumb dumb DUMB!

[beTruthFul]

02:10 PM on 11/29/2010

Wow! So you knew what the pilgrims were thinking?

OMG or you are just saying this out of you hate for other people?

[Freesia2]

12:42 PM on 11/29/2010

Rep. Akin, I know that the Bible is a pretty intense book with a lot of characters and plot threads. Frequently people have to read it more than once to absorb all the detail and nuance and everything. There's a lot of archaic phrasings in it (depending on the translation) like "ye verily" and what not and - wow - are there are a lot of begats. People begat all over the place and it's kind of dull in those sections and your mind wanders and all..... But I was curious. Did you by any chance skip the sections on a man named Jesus? He's kind of hard to miss. Long robe, 12 men followed him everywhere he went, when he wasn't walking on water he was walking all over helping people. Jog your memory?

Give it another look. Those are some of the best chapters. In fact, some people say that if you skip those - you've missed the entire book. And if you've done that, then you really shouldn't be referencing it at all, now should you? And certainly speaking with an air of authority. Because some people might come to the conclusion that you're lying. 

(And indeed it is all a moot point after I guess, as you shouldn't be referencing it in congress. See the section about Caesar and rendering and what all. See also the US Constitution.)

[ehorth]

12:45 PM on 11/29/2010

;-)

[siamao]

02:13 PM on 11/29/2010

I don't get this commentary. What does it have to do with Akin's remarks?

I recognize that you're trying to be coy in your references to the Bible,
but you're neither accurate or consistent. Those ancient Jewish/Hebrew 
scriptures known as "The Old Testament", don't have anything to do with
"a man named Jesus".  The "ye verily" phrasing which you cite applies
only to certain translations/editions of the Bible.

What is Akin "lying" about?  What does "rendering unto Caesar" have to
do with anything pertinent to this article?

Akin was talking about the history of Thanksgiving and the pilgrims,
not the Bible.

[beebster]

12:17 PM on 11/29/2010

What an idiot!!!!!!!!!! The Pilgrams were the epitimy of socialism! They shared everything and lived like hippies on a commune! What an idiot!