Black Comedy or White Slavery?
In a recent exchange between Comedy Central's witty host Jon Stewart and Democrat presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill), Stewart asked:
"Sir, we are concerned that ultimately at the end of the day, if you are fortunate enough to get the Democratic nomination, fortunate to become President of the United States, will you pull a bait-and-switch, sir, and enslave the white race? Is that your plan? And, if it is your plan, be honest. Tell us now."
Laughing, Sen. Obama replied:
"That is not our plan Jon, but I think your paranoia might make you suitable as a debate moderator."
O.K., so Stewart's question was a joke, but the underlying assumptions become less than amusing when one looks deeper into the possibilities of future enslavement inherent in what is being proposed by candidates for president in the 2008 campaign -- and that observation goes for all potential presidents - the Senators Three, Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain.
Slave or Free?
Enslavement, (not a word you hear much about these days), is the act of making slaves of other human beings who are your captives. Maybe you never thought about it, but a slave is a person who is the property of, and wholly subject to, control of another. There was a time in the United States when slavery was not only legal, it required a five-year Civil War, the deadliest in American history, causing 620,000 deaths, to settle the issue.
In March of 1857, in the infamous Dred Scott decision, seven out of nine Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, (with my fellow Marylander, Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney writing the opinion), declared no slave or descendant of a slave could be or ever had been a U.S. citizen. As a non-citizen, the court said, Dred Scott had no rights, could not sue in a Federal Court and must remain a slave.
It required the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in December 1865, officially to abolish and prohibit slavery, with limited exceptions, such as those convicted of a crime.
White Slavery?
Largely ignored in American history books, (and probably unknown to Jon Stewart when he asked his question), there was an early class in America that could be called "white slaves."
Mainstream histories refer to these laborers as "indentured servants" not slaves, because many agreed to work for a set period of time in exchange for land and rights.
In a new book, White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain’s White Slaves in America, (N.Y.U. Press), authors Don Jordan and Michael Walsh argue, however, that slavery applies to any person who is bought and sold, chained and abused, whether for a decade or a lifetime. Many early American settlers died long before their indenture ended or found that no court would back them when their owners failed to deliver on promises. And many never achieved freedom or the American dream they were seeking.
So what are we to make of the true status of those of us who are privileged to live in what we often refer to as "the land of the free" -- the United States of America?
Each year every dollar the average American earns up until the third week of April goes to government in taxes!
So in reality there is another, more subtle form of slavery in America and its growing exponentially.
Realize it or not, we live and labor under tax and regulatory control of nearly every aspect of our lives -- ranging from a compete abolition of personal and financial privacy, (i.e the PATRIOT Act and illegal surveillance of all kinds), to burdensome taxation that confiscates our fortunes to finance the ever growing welfare state, either by massive deficit spending or political robbery of the value of our currency.
And what has fate so cruelly handed Americans for leadership in this time of troubles?
Not a Trillion's Worth of Difference
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both propose major changes to the tax code that would add to its complexity and increase taxes. His plan, like that of the late Senator Huey Long of Louisiana, emphasizes income redistribution, while her "nanny" approach seeks to force changes in Americans' behavior. Obama's proposal would shift the tax burden further on to "the rich" that already pay almost all taxes. Clinton proposes targeted tax breaks designed to change the way Americans use energy, save money and care for elders.
Both candidates would allow President George W. Bush's tax cuts to expire for workers in the top two tax brackets and set the estate-tax rate at 45% with a $7 million exemption. Obama wants tax rates on capital gains and dividends to rise from the current 15% rate to perhaps as high as 28%. Clinton would also raise the rate on investment income. The centerpiece of Obama's tax plan is a $1,000 tax cut for workers that would cost more than $80 billion annually and effectively eliminate all taxes for about 10 million low income Americans.
Meanwhile, John McCane, who calls himself a "conservative," panders to supply side Republicans by proposing to extend and expand tax cuts that can only increase the annual national deficit and the $9.4 trillion national debt. By the time President Bush leaves office, he will have added nearly $3 trillion to that national debt. Thank you, George! No thank you, John!
As an article in The New York Times observed Sunday: "The Republican and Democratic presidential candidates differ strikingly in their approaches to taxes and spending, but their fiscal plans have at least one thing in common: each could significantly swell the budget deficit and increase the national debt by trillions of dollars, according to tax and budget experts."
The Offshore Solution
Now I know I am beginning to sound like a broken record, (or a skipping CD), but there are only so many ways to describe how best to protect yourself from government-imposed indentured servitude and financial slavery -- regardless of your race, color or ethnic background.
The first step is to open one's eyes and recognize the dire situation as it is -- then to take proactive action to defend and expand your diminished freedoms.
Why would any reasonable person choose slavery over freedom? As I have said before: "Wherever real freedom can be found, that's where freedom lovers should be."
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