Perception, Act Like a Slave, Be Treated Like a Slave

We, as a species, like to label things. We seem to like to be able to slap a label on something so that when we talk about things we have an idea about what's being talked about. This works well for physical things like plants, animals or minerals, but it can be a bit lacking when talking about not so physical things like political philosophies. People like to label someone like me, someone who doesn't fit into any of their prefabricated political party holes, so to speak, as a libertarian, an minarchist, a constitutionalist, or some other label. I like to think of myself as an individualist as opposed to a collectivist. I also like to think of myself as an abolitionist, though the vast majority of Americans would believe that such a label is unnecessary as slavery was ended by Abraham Lincoln back in 1865 at the end of the War of Northern Aggression. I would say that no one is as enslaved as the person who believes he is free when he is not. Slavery has just become more subtle and the masters have changed.

The perception of what slavery is needs to change. We, as a society, still have a tendency to think of slavery as the chattel slavery of the 1800s. We still think of it as people being sent out to the fields to tend to crops and to do other back breaking work without proper compensation, living in squalor while their masters lived in the lap of luxury, and being cruelly whipped and punished unjustly for crimes like trying to escape. While these vile things happened back then, this type of slavery is not the only kind of slavery that exists. Slavery is, basically, being forced to work for someone else. Some forms of this are far more subtle than what we saw on the cotton producing plantations of the old south.

The main concept to get across here is force. One is forced to do something when one does or doesn't do something out of fear of what will happen should he not do or do it. This is what makes for a subtler form of slavery. People don't want to admit their subservient status, and so they refuse to see their own enslavement. They don't want to admit that they're being forced to work for someone else, and so they make excuses about necessary evils that need to be tolerated in a civilized society. People don't want to stand up for themselves, to admit that they have to do something, to battle tyranny in their own culture, and so they refuse to see their own participation in the tyranny and go along to get along. Slowly things get worse until one day the truth is so plain to see that even those in the deepest denial have to come to the realization that they did nothing to stop the evil. They are nothing but frightened serfs too afraid of their unknown fate should they cast off the shackles that tie them down.

That is what those who wish to rule count on. They don't want you to know you're a slave. They want you to believe you're free, the freest people on the face of the earth, and that you're not shackled to a parasitic debt system that's sucking the economic lifeblood from the common folk. They want you to believe that taxation is not theft, that you are not forced to pay, that you do not work a portion of the year for them. Think about that for a moment. Think about just one tax you pay, the income tax.

Would you really pay your income taxes if they were truly voluntary? Would you really pay them if you weren't worried about going to jail should you not? Would you really pay them if you weren't worried that if you didn't pay them they'd take more? Would you really pay the federal government for the services they provide if you had a real choice, or would you maybe choose an alternative provider who could do a better job for less? Would you pay for the wars they engage in? Would you pay to have them kill innocents in foreign countries with drone strikes? Would you pay them to send you through the porno scanners or have them sexually assault you with an enhanced pat down at an airport? Would you pay for the Department of Education, the FDA, the EPA, the CIA, the DEA, and all the other alphabet agencies that are consistently failing in their duties? Well, if these agencies are so good at their jobs why do they need a monopoly and why do they need to force people to pay them? Certainly they could be funded on a voluntary basis if they do such a great job.

Try to convince people that the income tax is extortion, a type of theft, and see where that gets you. Define extortion as being threatened should you not pay for some service (usually protection) and explain that income taxes meet this definition and many people will look at you like you're crazy. "What about the roads?" they'll ask. It doesn't matter about taxation fitting the definition of extortion. Somehow the fact that government is taking the money makes theft okay. Somehow the fact that more people have voted for this guy than voted for that guy makes extortion legitimate. Somehow so many have let their minds become enslaved by propaganda and the normalization of criminal activity that it became okay that strangers in Washington DC steal your hard earned money before you even see it. In fact, most people will condone the theft and believe that those who try to keep all the money they earn are criminals not paying their fair share. The Stockholm syndrome is thriving in these United States of America.

Another tax that shows how much of a slave you are and is closer to home is the property tax. Do you really think you own your property? Especially if you've paid off the bank, do you think you own your property? You don't. The government owns it. Don't believe me? Try not paying your property taxes and see what happens. I bet you end up losing your land. I bet they come knocking on your door with men with guns and force you out or kill you if you try to resist. Then they'll sell it off for nothing more than the taxes they are owed and the promise that the new owners will pay their yearly tribute and you'll be broke and on the street and they won't care. No, you don't own anything, you're just renting it. They have enough guns and power that they can do whatever they want, if they can justify it. It seems to me that there is precious little keeping them from confiscating everything of value that we own.

The way you are treated has much to do with how the people you're interacting with perceive you as well as how they perceive the world. The individuals at the top of the economic and political structure, those who I like to refer to as the establishment elite, perceive you quite a bit differently than you perceive yourself. At best, they perceive you as children in need of their guidance. At worst, they perceive you as property. They perceive you as serfs or slaves. They might go as far as to perceive you as livestock. They certainly don't perceive you as free human beings. They certainly don't perceive you as beings deserving of respect. I don't know that I can really blame them for that. After all, when you act like a slave, you should expect to be treated like a slave. As long as you continue to put up with the political shenanigans in Washington DC, they will continue to take advantage of your willingness to go along to get along. As long as you continue to accept the dictates of the ruling elite, they will continue to make the rules up as they go and ignore the laws that govern their behavior. At least that's the perception I have.

Slaves don't need private property. Anything they possess belong to their masters. Slaves don't need guns. Only the masters should be allowed to have guns in case they need to keep the slaves in line. Slaves don't need to make their own decisions. Their masters will make decisions for them. They will decide whether or not they can travel, whether or not they can drive a vehicle, whether or not they can or can't do business with someone else. They will decide whether or not that slave needs medical attention. They will decide what kind food will be available, regardless of how nutritious it is. They will decide whether to tell you the truth or not. Slaves don't need knowledge. They don't need answers to their questions. They don't even need to ask questions. They just need to do the jobs they're told to do and to pay their taxes.

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I have recently collected all my Ron Paul opinion editorials and put them in an ebook entitled, "Ron Paul's Wisdom, A Layman's Perspective" available at amazon.com and other fine ebook outlets.