Last Sunday, The New York Times wrote that, in the view of the Tea Party, the Pilgrims were actually “early socialists.” They soon “realized the errors” of their collectivist ways “and embraced capitalism and the glory of the free market and private enterprise.” Hence the anger now at big government – i.e., the “socialist” takeover of the United States and the demand to give it back to the people.
This is certainly one way of looking at American history. At the opposite end of the spectrum you will find the view that the Constitution, which descendents of the Pilgrims wrote, has become a sacred anachronism that, with its paralyzing checks and balances, makes the kind of strong, effective central government needed in the modern world impossible.
The document actually reads as though members of the Tea Party had written it. Why should a document written by eighteenth-century freedom fighters designed to put an end to the regime of George the Third in North America make sense today when the enemies to freedom are far, far more unpleasant – and far more complicated – than George the Third ever dreamed of being? Compared with the potential – or should we say actual? – tyranny of the modern corporate state, he was – who can doubt it? – a pussycat.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Eric Koch’s book, The Weimar Triangle, is available at Indigo-Chapters and in your local bookstore. 
The US constitution is not the only ancient writing that is still revered as eternally valid.