Federalist Senior Editor Christopher Bedford railed against Democratic lawmakers Wednesday cancelling their constituents’ private Thanksgiving plans over rising cases of the Wuhan coronavirus as an assault on American liberty.
“There’s a huge amount of symbolism that’s been lost on a lot of these government officials,” Bedford said, calling the Democratic attacks on Thanksgiving next week ironic. “This is the 400th anniversary of the pilgrims arriving in the United States … This is the beginning of self-governance. This was when the country was founded, not the 1619 Project stuff we’ve been being fed.”
To celebrate the 400th anniversary month of the Mayflower’s monumental passage across the Atlantic, The Federalist launched “The 1620 Project” featuring essays from intellectuals, academics, and historians to put in perspective the significance of the pilgrim voyage. It was the Mayflower Compact, signed by 41 adult male passengers while sailing to the new land, that famously applied the idea of law established by the people, not the king.
[READ: “They Sailed Up Out Of The Infinite”: An Introduction To The 1620 Project]
As coronavirus case surge nationwide however, Democratic politicians from California to Chicago are imposing stricter lockdowns that ban indoor gatherings between households ahead of the fall holiday. Those same politicians are also freely enjoying close-quarter celebrations themselves that fly in the face of their own rules.
“What they did was so incredible in that first Thanksgiving and when that first colony was established they could have self-government. They could have a compact. They could be free people in this land,” Bedford said. “These officials are just trampling over this holiday like it’s some kind of cafeteria holiday, but family is extremely important, liberty is extremely important.”
Bedford continued, calling out the Oregon Democratic governor’s hypocrisy over threatening to go into people’s homes and punish them for hosting a Thanksgiving dinner while allowing militant anarchists burn down the city of Portland.
“What we’re seeing here in 2020 and what we’re seeing across the country is an unbelievable lack of education coming home to roost,” said Bedford. “At The Federalist this week, we launched the 1620 Project to try and remind Americans of why this is so important and why it means more than just football and turkey.”
