Like the story about Washington cutting down the cherry tree and throwing a dollar across the Potomac River, the story of Thanksgiving we tell our children is just that, a story. The real story of Thanksgiving is far more interesting and meaningful. 

The famous oil canvas above, The First Thanksgiving 1621 by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1899) illustrates some of these common misconceptions. Pilgrims did not wear such outfits, and the Wampanoag are dressed in the style of Native Americans from the Great Plains.

The real story, however, is far more basic and fundamental than dress and food. It is about the foundational principles of our nation. Here are just two articles about the real story of Thanksgiving.

Windy McKinney is the newest member of the party's executive committee. She was appointed to an at large position Nov. 15. 

“I'm excited about joining the executive because because I'm ready to help raise the profile of the party and empower the citizens of North Carolina with Libertarian ideals regarding individual freedom and limited government,” McKinney said. 

McKinney is a editor and writer for The Haywire, and online news source in western North Carolina. She was a Libertarian candidate for Haywood County commissioner, earning nearly 5,000 votes. 

She grew up in Waynesville and graduated from Tuscola High School before attaining a bachelor’s degree at UNC-Asheville in history and literature. 

After traveling, and then living and working in Asheville, she moved to the United Kingdom, where she earned a master’s degree in Medieval Studies from the University of Kent in Canterbury and a doctorate in Anglo-Saxon history from the University of York. 

“Haywood County is ready for a Libertarian candidate to change politics as usual,” McKinney said when she began her run for county commissioner. She believes the U.S. Constitution should be the guiding principle in running government and advocates strict limitations on government, with a strong emphasis on the Bill of Rights and civil liberties.

"Golly, I never had more fun in my entire life. Thanks so much to everyone who made this campaign a rousing success."

- Sean Haugh, Libertarian for U.S. Senate

The last video from the Sean Haugh for U.S. Senate campaign.

Wesley Casteen, Libertarian candidate in the U.S. 7th Congressional district said he was disappointed, but not surprised, that voters acted by “rote and habit” and voted for the “lesser of two evils.” 

“While the election results were as expected, I was eagerly hoping to have been proven wrong in those expectations,” he said. “Our campaign spread a message of 'Maximum Liberty with Minimal Government,' and I have even more confidence today in the accuracy and importance of those concepts.” 

“Unfortunately, the electorate acted entirely consistent with my expectations,” he said. “Despite years of disappointment in a federal government which has proven itself to be woefully inefficient and utterly ineffective, the electorate once again chose to maintain the status quo and stayed course with the devil that it knew.”