The Sage Observer

Slavery

It has been said, “A Rose is a Rose by any name”. I have observed that one can select any subject or issue, good or bad (but usually bad), change its name, paint it a different color, and show it in a different light, so as to make the bad appear good. That’s what propaganda is all about. A thistle is made to appear as a rose. Politicians do it every day. So does business.

This posting is titled “Slavery”. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, tells us that “slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work or to demand compensation”. It goes on to say that, “in more recent times slavery has been outlawed in most societies but continues through the practice of debt bondage, indentured servitude, serfdom, domestic servants kept in captivity, certain adoptions in which children are forced to work as slaves, child soldiers, and forced marriage”. Also, “slavery is illegal in every country in the world, but there are still an estimated 27 million slaves worldwide”. But, I digress. Having defined slavery, let us define wealth.

Wealth is defined as “the abundance of valuable resources or material possessions”. Adam Smith, in his book “The Wealth of Nations”, described wealth as “the annual produce of the land and labour of the society”. To once again quote Wikipedia, “this ‘produce’ is, at its simplest, that which satisfies human needs and wants of utility. In popular usage, wealth can be described as an abundance of items of economic value, or the state of controlling or possessing such items, usually in the form of money, real estate, and personal property”.

My interpretation of this is that wealth is created by the production of a human being from his labor and the resources of this earth. If he produces it for himself, it is his to keep, barter, or sell less his cost of production. If he produces it for another, he is an employee with the right to receive a fair, livable wage commensurate with the requirements of the work being performed. If his productivity is taken from him, leaving him with a mere pittance on which to sustain himself, he is enslaved.

Now, in light of the foregoing, I ask you a simple question. In the final analysis, Is it any different for you if I steal your wages for my personal benefit than if I take your work from you and give it to another (a slave), somewhere else (say, in another land), to do it? Of course, you wouldn't have to do the work, but wouldn't you be just as hungry? Think about it.

I submit to you that the nice, pleasant to the ear, words like “globalization”, “out-sourcing”, whatever, are nothing more (nothing less) than “roses”, synonyms for slavery. Think of the building collapses in Bangladesh. Think of the sweatshops in China, Thailand, and so on, wherein the employees are locked in and not allowed to leave until shift ends when they are bused to their barracks homes only to be bused back to the sweat shops just a few hours later–day after day. One doesn't have to own another in order to enslave them. There are different means of enforced labor and stolen productivity. Slave owners throughout history have learned and practiced stealing and accumulating the productivity of others through the use of slavery. Rather than that productivity going to the coffers of the person who produced it, i.e. the slave, it went into the coffers of his owner, the slave master.

Now, I ask you another question–maybe two. If I purchase slave labor products for their cheaper prices rather than non-slave labor products at their higher prices, is that really right? If I do that, am I any better than the slave owner of old? Am I a partner in crime here? Oops! That was three questions. You will agree, I sure. If I help someone in the act of a mugging, I’ll be arrested and hauled off to jail right along with the mugger.

At the top of my blog, in the heading, I have said, “I am very concerned about what is happening to our country and the direction in which it is going”. I am seeing the difference in income and wealth between the top one percent of us and the bottom one percent of us growing greater and greater. I am seeing almost twenty million of our people out of work with little hope of ever becoming employed again before they die. I am seeing our Shadow Government, the “power elite” (Ref: G. William Domhoff’s book, Who Rules America-Power & Politics) who really rule our nation, leading us toward a world government wherein our people are little more than serfs. This is why, in these postings to my blog, I am trying to get people to think deeper. This is why I am trying to motivate others to be more politically cognitive. The future of our nation is at stake. In closing, I’ll say one more thing for today. Yes, we all have a vote at the polls, but let’s not forget; we, also, have a vote with every dollar we spend. We don’t have to spend our money foreign. We’re mature adults. We can do without if we must. We can pay off our credit cards, get out financial affairs in order, and force a turnaround–if we want.

You don’t have to agree with me, but try to look at the real face of this picture.

Ronald Miller

mtss86@bellsouth.net