I am not in favor of slavery. I also believe that most folks don’t agree with me. “Ha,” you say. “Don’t be stupid,” you say. Read on and I’ll tell you why I say what I say.
It’s like this. If you define slavery as the unconditional right of one man to the fruits of another man’s labors, then I ask you this one simple little question: Why is government redistribution of wealth not a thing which makes a man a slave?
Ha! Answer that and then tell me that you don’t believe in slavery.
Graduated Income Tax Scheme
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m talking about the graduated income tax scheme and other means of government control over an individual’s property and life. For example, using income tax laws to control how a man spends his money. Think about the “death tax,” that money has already been taxed.
I may be a bit of a nut, but I’m not an idiot. I am fully aware that what I have said so far is not the first thing which pops into the head of the average American when he hears the word “slavery.” I just want to broaden your thinking.
In this country, we tie slavery with the antebellum South, and it was an awful place and we still talk about it and etc. The truth is, at that time, slavery was all over the world. The British Empire abolished it in 1833. The U.S. abolished it in 1865, at a terrible cost in both life and limb.
Modern-Day Slavery
Why don’t we hear about modern-day slavery? It exists in great numbers, primarily in Asia and Africa. Why don’t we constantly talk about German slavery in the 1930s and 40s? The great and wonderful Autobahn was built with much slave labor. Let’s don’t even get into this “master race” business except to mention the atrocities, which are in living memory. In other words, these days we slam the good old USA for something which happened well over 150 years ago and Germany is a really swell country.
One last thing, the Emancipation Proclamation. I would bet that Obama has sleepless nights wishing he were smart enough to pull off that bit of chicanery. Why do I say that? Quite simply because Lincoln did not free the slaves. He freed the slaves “in the areas in rebellion.” That means he freed them where he had no actual authority to do so. It also means the slaves in Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri were not freed.
If you still have no idea what I’m talking about, I reckon that you had better just write me off.
