Happy Libertarian Thanksgiving by Dan Mitchell

I’ve shared videos from Reason, Stossel, and Prager that tell the story of how redistributionism and lack of property rights almost killed the Pilgrims.

This Thanksgiving, here’s another version of that bit of history from the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

For all intents and purposes, what happened to the Pilgrims is captured by this video about redistributing grades.

Or this iconic cartoon.

Simply stated, it’s not a good idea to break the link between effort and reward.

It’s also not a good idea to interfere with market forces. Back in 2017, I shared a video about the “invisible hand” that featured bread.

Today, let’s apply the same lesson to turkeys. Here are some excerpts of Dominic Pino’s column in National Review.

How many turkeys are needed for Thanksgiving? …You could count the number of people in the city as a starting point. …Of course, not every individual needs a turkey, so the number of households might be more helpful. But not every household needs a turkey, either. …You could send out a survey ahead of time to ask people what their turkey needs are. But you can’t just create new turkeys overnight. They need to be born and raised well in advance. …Of course, no part of Thanksgiving actually works this way. …Nobody has to figure out at the national level, or the city level, how many total turkeys are needed ahead of time. It’s an impossible question to answer. That’s why we have markets instead of centrally planned Thanksgiving. …Each store knows that people will want turkeys around Thanksgiving time, so they place orders from suppliers based on that knowledge. They know roughly how many customers they serve and specialize in getting orders right. …Suppliers know that stores are going to want turkeys around Thanksgiving, so they deep-freeze them months in advance. …The planning process for Thanksgiving turkeys is decentralized through markets. Millions of people at various points in the process plan small things that are within their power to control, and with the aid of the price system, people get the turkeys they want. …This Thanksgiving, be grateful for spontaneous order, and for all the people up and down the supply chain who, knowingly or unknowingly, helped to get your holiday meal to you.

By the way, the same lesson applies to roses.

The moral of the story is that the invisible hand of the market works miracles, unlike the “grabbing hand” of government.

P.S. Some of our friends on the left don’t appreciate Thanksgiving. Let’s hope we never have to endure the type of holiday they would prefer.