{"id":22287,"date":"2014-03-06T08:03:04","date_gmt":"2014-03-06T15:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/?p=22287"},"modified":"2014-03-06T08:03:04","modified_gmt":"2014-03-06T15:03:04","slug":"home-of-the-slave-land-of-the-fee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/home-of-the-slave-land-of-the-fee\/","title":{"rendered":"Home of the Slave, Land of the Fee"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Strike-The-Root.com<\/a> | My Fourth Edition of Black\u2019s Law dictionary defines \u201cslave\u201d thusly: \u201ca person who is wholly subject to the will of another.\u201d The phrase \u201cwill of another\u201d sounded familiar. I checked the same dictionary for \u201cstatute,\u201d and found it defined as the \u201cwritten will of the legislature.\u201d You might come to suspect that a person subject to the legislators\u2019 will\u2014i.e. the \u201claw\u201d–is a slave of the legislators. Ah, no! That couldn\u2019t be, in the Land of the Free!<\/p>\n

An online dictionary gave the following definition of \u201cslave\u201d: \u201cone that is completely subservient to a dominating influence.\u201d It then gave an example of the use of the word: \u201cDo it yourself. I\u2019m not your slave.\u201d You might conclude that someone performing some task when compelled by another, for the benefit of another, is a slave!<\/p>\n

It might seem preposterous to compare modern Americans to the slaves of the plantations, two centuries ago. After all, the two definitions given use terms like \u201cwholly subject\u201d and \u201ccompletely subservient.\u201d We certainly are not \u201cwholly subject,\u201d and \u201ccompletely subservient\u201d! But were the slaves of the plantation? I\u2019m sure they could sing and dance if they pleased. Presumably, when not working, they could walk about the place, do a little whittling, maybe play some simple musical instrument, tell stories, take a nap. They were, after all, valuable productive assets, and had to be maintained as such. They couldn\u2019t be expected to produce much for the master if they were overly discontent, or starving. It was to his advantage to keep them fit and reasonably happy.<\/p>\n

Moreover, a slave could occupy his dwelling, although he couldn\u2019t own it, and was only allowed to stay there if he produced enough for the master to justify his room and board. We, on the other hand, own our homes and don\u2019t have to turn over any of our productivity to anyone in return for the right of occupancy, do we? (Scratch that, bad example.)<\/p>\n

A slave was assigned tasks by his master, and could expect some punishment for not accomplishing them according to the orders he\u2019d been given. There are some among us today, for example, who are compelled to keep specified financial records, collect monies, and forward them to the master (er, correction\u2014to the appropriate official) on a schedule of the official\u2019s making. But these individuals are surely not slaves, and would laugh at any assertion to the contrary. The difference is obvious–isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

No slave would openly spread any unflattering information about the master for fear of punishment, whereas those among us who publish unpleasant truths about our rulers are treated with honor and respect, right?<\/p>\n

Education was not provided for the slaves, thus keeping them ignorant and uninformed; whereas, in contrast, our children are treated to many years of schooling, from which they emerge with astonishing erudition and knowledge of the world, as shown by the intelligence tests at which they shine, and a political savvy and awareness of history that amazes!<\/p>\n

The slave of yesteryear could keep only as much of his own production as the master allowed, but, by contrast, we can keep all of what we make! (Wait a minute\u2014that didn\u2019t come out right.)<\/p>\n

We are often told that our system of taxation is based on voluntary compliance. That certainly distinguishes us from the black slave, although the taking of his production by the master was, arguably, the result of voluntary compliance, inasmuch as the slave could have refused to produce! But there the similarity ends, for if the plantation slave had refused to volunteer his services, he would have gotten a severe beating, whereas if we decline to volunteer, our wishes are respected! (Did I get that right?)<\/p>\n

Anyway, it\u2019s grotesquely inappropriate to compare modern American life with that of a plantation hand of the mid-19th Century! Isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Strike-The-Root.com | My Fourth Edition of Black\u2019s Law dictionary defines \u201cslave\u201d thusly: \u201ca person who is wholly subject to the will of another.\u201d The phrase \u201cwill of another\u201d sounded familiar. I checked the same dictionary for \u201cstatute,\u201d and found it defined as the \u201cwritten will of the legislature.\u201d You might come to suspect that a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[294],"tags":[168],"class_list":["post-22287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-slavery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22287\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oooorgle.com\/BeyondTheCorral\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}