On the issue of slavery...

I know this guy. He's a fairly intelligent guy. He even has a college degree. Ironically, his area of focus is on the subject of the history of African-Americans...and yet, he is a self-proclaimed democrat/socialist.

Obviously, if you've made it through a four-year college degree, you're not a complete idiot. I'm a college drop-out, and I'd like to think I've got more than just a few cooperative brain cells. High school algebra kicked my ass. Get a degree, and you've obviously got a little bit going on up there!

That being said, I cannot understand how someone can be a socialist, while simultaneously be opposed to the institution of slavery. You see, he himself is in fact the victim of slavery...just like the majority of people who are able to read this.

No, my "master" has never tied me to a post and used a bullwhip on me before, but I have been bound and caged for nothing more than failure to follow his directions!

Before we can truly understand this, we must get to the heart of exactly what slavery is. When most people think of slavery, they think of muscular African-Americans (henceforth referred to as "black" for the purposes of this posting, in the same manner that Caucasians are referred to as "white", it just takes less time to type it out!) picking cotton in a field. They may think of "Aunt Jamima" fixing dinner, or "Uncle Tom" being a "house nigger".

But really, is this what slavery is? Does it require a bullwhip and a darker degree of skin tone? No, slavery is an institution in which one person has claimed ownership over the life of another. The enforcement of slavery takes many forms today. In American life, the consequences for acting in opposition to the master's directives most often result in the loss of personal property or personal liberty.

You may ask, how can a person be considered a "slave" if he's able to complain about his own slavery in public, where his own master may potentially hear it, without facing repercussion?

It's quite simple. The institution of slavery has not changed. The methods used by the slave-owners, however, have. To give an example of this change, let's look at the way "it used to be". Three hundred years ago, if a slave directly disobeyed his master, he was immediately beaten and/or possibly even killed. Today, however, the slave (you and I) are considered "community property". Specific people have been given authority to mete out such punishments. It is no less the institution of slavery, yet it is not quite the same as being tied to a tree and whipped.

Imagine you live in a community where it is illegal to park a car with an expired registration tag in your driveway, because the city ordinance has defined such a vehicle as being a "junked car". You paid for the car. You own the home. A city "code enforcement officer" (the new word for "overseer") comes to your home and issues you a citation for the misdemeanor offense of storing a junked car in your driveway, and gives you a summons to appear in court for this "crime" of storing your personal property (car) on your real property (driveway). You refuse to appear in court because you know that you've purchased both the land and the vehicle with the fruits of your own labor...and yet, the policeman still shows up at your door, intent on hauling you off to jail in chains because you disobeyed the command of your masters.

If you resist such treatment, you may be physically assaulted by the overseers (our "peace officers"). If you take a swing at the overseer, you may have the level of assault upon your person escalated to the point where potentially lethal weapons are used against you, such as tasers and handguns. If you attempt to match the threat level with weapons of your own, you will be met with multiple "tactical" officers potentially deploying full-auto firearms and/or even an "armored personnel carrier". In all likelihood, you will be killed.

Killed, for what? For not paying a taxation sticker on an antique car you purchased, with your own money?

Now, let's get further into taxation. With the sales tax, you have organizations of people (henceforth known as "government", or ".gov") saying that if you live within a particular physical boundary, the value of all goods and services you provide will be taxed. This tribute you pay to the government will be for the purposes of "the greater good"...meaning, it's going to pay your slavemasters and your overseers (.gov employees). You can't sell a hamburger or mow a lawn, legally, without paying an 8%+ sales tax.

What is the government telling you, by saying that you must pay a sales tax? It not only owns your personal property, but also owns your labor. If you are not free to do with it as you choose, you do not own it!

If you cannot own property, and are not free to do as you wish with your own body, are you not a slave? If .gov finds you guilty of not paying your taxes, and you resist .gov's attempt to throw you in a cage, will you not be beaten or killed?

If this is not slavery, then I do not know what is. How can a man be opposed to slavery, and yet, simultaneously advocate it?