While one might be shocked at the presentation of such a question about such a historically controversial subject, one might also not be worse off to simply read their Constitution of the United States…
Let’s have a look at the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States:
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
So, let’s break this down and comprehend what this really means:
The phrase “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted…” simply translates to -
“Slavery and involuntary servitude are illegal unless the court system (the state) makes it legal by conviction (court order).
In other words…
“The state has the authority to enslave you simply by convicting you of a crime and sending you to private prison or requiring community service through state approved agencies.”
Now we must understand that slavery in the United States was not legal or illegal until individual states made it so. Instead, it was just an accepted practice of common law brought over to the United States by the English settlers who were already accustomed to owning slaves. While southern states continued with their tolerance of the ownership of people (of any race or color) either through slavery or by indentured servitude (involuntary servitude), one by one the Northern states individually outlawed the practice, though this was not necessarily done by altruistic means as much as political ones.
It is very important to understand the concept of freedom in this case. The colonists that inhabited the states as individual citizens had the freedom (the right) to own slaves and to indenture others for payment of debt. This was a right.
It is also very important to understand that this right, as with all rights, was taken away from the individual people both when individual states outlawed the practice and when the Thirteenth Amendment was amended to the Constitution. Thus, the right to own slaves was turned into a privilege, and immediately revoked.
Remember, a right is God-given. It is not something that can be legislated. It is freedom without oppression. Breathing is a right.
Also remember that a privilege is not a right. A privilege is not a freedom. A privilege is a state sanctioned action, only allowable by state decree or with permission through license or legal statute. Driving is a privilege, revocable at any time by the state.
The question here is not one of moral compass or civil right, but one of individual rights compared to state authority. This is a story of the state taking rights away from individual citizens, and creating a monopoly on slavery through it’s system of laws, as stated in section 2:
“Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.“
It doesn’t matter what your personal opinion on the slavery issue is, it only matters that you understand that the state is now the slave owner instead of the individual citizen.
Now, let’s examine the prison state that is America…
- The United States population accounts for approximately 5% of the world’s population.
- Yet, the United States holds 25% of the worlds prisoners in its prisons.
- That makes the good old U.S.A the #1 prison nation in the world!
- But, you see, that also makes the U.S.A. the #1 legal slave owner in the world…
Do you remember when then Vice President Dick Cheney was indited along with Alberto Gonzalez for conflicts of interest in investing 85 million in private prisons? I guess you can’t indict a slave trader if he is operating within the permissions and full support of the United States government: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQEMPdIxZcY
Another great video from 2008 about the private prison business…
PBS special report: Prisons For Profit – http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/419/video.html
Look, the politicians, courts, attorneys, lawyers, judges, and anyone else involved in this legalized human trafficking and slavery are not acting in the best interest of the people. They are simply compartmentalized cronies each contributing to a shameful slave and private prison business.
And the court system is set up to ensure a constant influx of new slaves…
What is even more disheartening is the fact that the majority of people subjected to this legalized slavery are not guilty of breaking the law, meaning they have done harm to others or their property. No, these state inducted slaves were guilty of “victimless crimes”, meaning that no one or their property was hurt. This means that the state is the “victim”. This means that a code, limit, statute, or other nonsensical legality (not law) was broken. This means that the government has set up a system in which it imprisons and enslaves good and innocent people for breaking its own outrageous rules. This means that for running a red light, you could become a slave too. This means that for holding up a sign in protest, you could become an involuntary servant to the government.
Private prisons do pay their prisoners (slaves) for their work, to the tune of .30 – .60 cents per hour. This is a loophole to make the private prison business the cheapest labor in America.
Now, to put this all into perspective, I would refer you to a previous post about the legalization of drugs, specifically marijuana. (http://realitybloger.wordpress.com/2010/01/31/marijuana-to-legalize-or-to-not-legalize-that-is-the-question/)
Metaphorically speaking, the legal slave trade in America works in much the same way that legalization of drugs works… where as before “pot” was just a weed that grew wherever, neither legal or illegal – but now it’s an illegal drug except by government approved prescription and sanction (legal). In other words, I can obtain it with government license (state permission).
Likewise, slavery was neither legal or illegal, it just was, until individual states outlawed it. Then this “amendment” came along and made it “illegal without permission” for all states, just like pot. All you have to do is run a state approved prison (pot pharmacy) and only conduct this slavery within its walls (pot clinic/pharmacy/store) to make it legal slavery (medical marijuana). The concept to comprehend here is God’s law or common law – meaning most prisoners did not break this law, which states “do not do harm to others or their property”. Instead, they have committed “victimless” crimes (the STATE is the victim – like running a stop sign) which makes them eligible for slavery in private prisons per the 13th Amendment (and some of those prisoner/slaves are only guilty of smoking a joint).
Marijuana is illegal without a (state approved) doctors prescription, making it legal for state approved persons by state approved distributors.
Slavery is illegal without a judges (the STATE’S) prescription (permission), making it legal for state approved institutions to have slaves which are state approved (condemned) individuals.
I don’t know how I can make this any clearer!
This system of outsourcing prisoners to privately held corporate prisons, only induces “the state” to produce more victimless (innocent) state appointed criminals in order to produce more prisoners (slaves) for the state sanctioned legal slave trade that our government has the monopoly on through its 13th Amendment to the constitution.
And one last thing… community service is not for the benefit of the community. It is the temporary indenturing of code violators who haven’t harmed anyone but the state. The only “community service” you are allowed to participate in are state sanctioned organizations or corporations which serve the state or are non-profit in name only, receiving large sums of contracted money for your service. This is not constitutional or lawful. It is slavery hidden behind a corrupt charitable FOR PROFIT company who uses your state approved enslavement as positive public relations in a public-private-partnership (ppp) with the government.
The 13th Amendment is unconstitutional. It must be abolished, as must legalized state sanctioned slavery.
Please pass this on , for if we do not liberate our brothers and sisters out of this legal slave trade now, we may soon find that the only job choices left in America are prison guards or involuntary servants.
.
UPDATE: It’s amazing how good people pass things around and other good people fighting the good fight turn up in your reality. This is an organization who is fighting against the private prison business, and a video I highly recomend:
National Public Service Council To Abolish Private Prisons http://npsctapp.blogspot.com/
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Clint Richardson (realitybloger.wordpress.com)
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Proposed Change:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, NOT EVEN AS A PUNISHMENT FOR CRIME, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
(National Committee on Prisons and Prison Labor 1912)
Here’s another:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
(Committee to Abolish Prison Slavery 1973)
I like the flow, tone and excellence of your article. Thanks, LW
I’d say yes, except that the (federal) United States should have no jurisdiction other than Washington D.C. as afforded in only the original constitution.
There can be no jurisdiction when freeman status is involved. No one should have that power.
Thank you.
Read the elevth amendment compare it with article 3 sec.2 read that as many times that it takes for you to understand and see the conflic the federal constitution shall fall thats the unjustice department .
When the 11th amend. was proposed the fonding fathers rejected and the criminals in the black robe adopted in 1798 in chisholm Vs. Georgia
Read The Patriott’s Bible ( U S Const. ) Joe
INCARCERATING PEOPLE “FOR PROFIT” IS IN A WORD….WRONG!
The mere presence of a private “for profit” driven prison business in our country undermines the U.S Constitution and subsequently the credibility of the American criminal justice system. In fact, until all private prisons in America have been abolished and outlawed, “the promise” of fairness and justice at every level of this country’s judicial system will remain unattainable. We must restore the principles and the vacant promise of our judicial system. Our government cannot continue to “job-out” its obligation and neglect its duty to the individuals confined in the correctional and rehabilitation facilities throughout this nation, nor can it ignore the will of the people that it was designed to serve and protect. Please support the National Public Service Council to Abolish Private Prisons (NPSCTAPP) with a show of solidarity by signing “The Single Voice Petition”
http://www.petitiononline.com/gufree2/petition.html
Please visit our website for further information: http://www.npsctapp.blogspot.com
–Ahma Daeus
“Practicing Humanity Without A License”…
Are you familiar with the various movements to expand slavery in the 1800′s new territories (Kansas/Nebraska, Louisiana purchase, Texas, and westward)? Your above reply is almost identical to the position of the Antebellum Slavocracy at that time. They didn’t want the Federal government to stop them from expanding slavery within any or all territories. There were great battles waged for and against such expansion, and the South Seceded from the Union when Lincoln was elected because they knew he would put a Federal stop to such expansion. Without that Federal authority chattel slavery would remain. The States can provide more rights than exist on the Federal level, but not less.
You must take emotion out of the equation to understand.
You must also stop thinking of freedom in terms of states rights or the constitution. For neither grants you rights. States grant privilages. The constitution grants nothing, as you or the governent is not contracted by it. It is an ideal that has no authority, except in allowing things to be legalized by the “government”, which is a corporation. The only objective of a corporation is to make a profit for its “share-holders”, meaning. That’s not you or I, but other “corporations” like banks. We are not the people, for a “person” is a legal term for “corporation”.
The “right” that I refer to in owning slaves simply refers to something which had no government or other control, which would make it a legal “privilage”.
The concept of legal slavery is ludicrous, at least as ludicrous as the concept of freely owning another human being. But when is is legal for the state only to own slaves (convicts), we have a serious problem in America.
Think outside the box…
One day, for instance, I hope that the cattle industry becomes suddenly aware of its horendous treatment and abuse of its comodity… namely cows. The measure of a society can always be seen in its treatment and respect of its livestock. This is not an emotional stance as much as a health and wellness stance. We are diseased and dying because our cattle are diseased and dying and drugged and comnpletley unnaturally raised. It’s killed brutally and with no ceremony or respect in its own feces. Then it’s cloned, irradiated and who knows what else before it gets to your plate.
If you don’t see the parellel here, then you don’t really understand what slavery is.
In truth, we are all slaves… some of us are just less enslaved than others. But a house slave is still a slave.
SLAVERY is FREEDOM!
G. Orwell
Freedom, natural god given right of all animals including man. No document nor proclamation by a single man nor group of men can deny freedom to their fellow animal. It is also the natural right of the young to be eaten when a fatal mistake is made in judgment that allows a predator the opportunity to eat said young. The same can be said about man, for there are predators in our presents who have taken advantage of their human looking image, but are in fact not human at all. For they enslave us and use us for their endless wars while eating our young.
Why not discover what corporations are profiting from prison labour, or make money from imprisioning people and then lets boycott them?
Hey: Heinrick Himmler, Digital Gravy, It Is I, realitybloger, and last but not least Clint Richardson – Hope it’s goin strong for all on your end.
Concerning boycotting prison made goods, services, state and corporate for-profit prisons and industries – I believe there are organizations already doing that work. Contact Judy Green at the Justice Policy Institute, and Frank Smith at the Private Prison Institute for further details on how to participate with them. Keep the Faith Brother.
Toward Abolition of All Slavery,
Lee Wood
Hey wanker, HI to you too Robert E Lee, Lee Wood and all the other Walwart Shoppers and bloggers out there.
Just keep buying all that China prison made STUFF that you use for less than a year and then breaks anyway.
Someday soon you won’t be able to tell the difference between US prison and China prison made crap. I bet your great grand children will be able to, though!
Good to know I am not the only one to have figured this out. Excellent analysis. I’m going to link to it from http://www.gaienecommunion.org if I may. We are kindred spirits. We must all hang together, or we shall all hang separately!
Link away. Everything I do is free!
criminal goons must be slaves to the state. there is no payment for the damage commited by these individuals with free bed and food (plus the drugs and gay action). 12 hours day shifts everyday would be precise.
Correct. Slavery was never abolished in the United State.
Many countries have abolished the death penalty. Try to imagine a country abolishing the death penalty except as legal punishment for a crime. Would the death penalty be abolished? Of course not. It exists in the U.S. as legal penalty for a crime and the only way to abolish it would be if it were no longer legal penalty for a crime.
The same goes for slavery. Rather than abolishing slavery, the 13th Amendment established it as legal.
But then our Constitution was written to preserve slavery. Read Slavery’s Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification by David Waldstreicher.
Benjamin Franklin was sent to the Constitutional Convention to present an anti-slavery petition. Realizing that the slave states wouldn’t ratify a Constitution that abolished slavery, he withheld his petition, and then, knowing that we did not have either a democracy or a republic, as the Constitution did not give us any way to hold our representatives accountable during their terms of office, the only time they’re supposed to represent us, so we have no way to exercise our will, either directly or through our representatives, he lied and said it was a republic, wanting the public to be fooled into accepting a tyranny. That dude should have stuck to flying a kite as he did the world a great disservice.
The Constitution was written so that those who owned the country, mostly slaveholders, would always run it, and that’s the situation we’re still in today.
We need a new Constitution that doesn’t start out with a lie. Ours wasn’t written by “We the People,” it was written in secret by “We the Oligarchs.” Native Americans, African-Americans, women, those who did not own land, and those who had to work for a living, did not have a seat at the table.
The ALBA countries like Venezuela and Bolivia have new Constitutions that guarantee equality, dignity, and respect for all. Venezuela even has a justice system rather than a legal system like ours. They Constitution mandates that their courts attempt to bring about justice, rather than just ensuring that legal formalities are completed. In the U.S., as long as the formalities were completed, factual guilt or innocence doesn’t matter.
Our Constitution made the highest law of the land an unelected Supreme Court whose decisions cannot be appealed. That is incompatible with the definition of democracy and the most basic principles of a republic, as the people have no power whatsoever, neither directly nor through their representatives, to challenge a Supreme Court decision. So slavery remains legal and as long as we continue to vote, to grant our consent of the governed to tyranny, it will stay legal.
Anyone who votes in elections like ours where 97% of all ballots cast are counted by easily-hacked and totally unverifiable computers called central tabulators, for candidates that we cannot hold accountable during their terms of office (the only time they’re supposed to represent us), is waiving their right to freedom and submitting to oppression.
The Haitian people may be poor and suffering, but they’re smart enough not to vote in corporate elections run by the governments and corporations responsible for the many ongoing global genocides for oil, metals, gems, and other private profits.
Boycotts work. Even if an oppressive government won’t step down, if nobody votes for it, it has no legitimacy in the eyes of the world. Nobody fought and died so that we could cast uncounted ballots for people we can’t hold accountable–the voting rights struggle was for a real voice in government, not a choice of which rich people will rule us.
To abolish slavery, stop voting to grant it your consent of the governed.
I would love to talk to Clint Richardson
Thank You Joe L’Amarca
[...] http://realitybloger.wordpress.com/2010/08/15/is-slavery-legal-in-america/ [...]
Child protection does the same kind of thing, I have known of foster kids that have to work off school detention at a privately owned thrift shop (without compensation). Don’t know how wide spread this kind of thing is.
In the article “Is Slavery Legal in America?” was written: “The 13th Amendment is unconstitutional. It must be abolished, as must legalized state sanctioned slavery.”
Wrong. The 13th Amendment is NOT unconstitutional. What it prohibits (besides outright slavery) is commanded service (by government in particular and by others generally) without the informed consent of the one commanded. The service must be voluntarily consensual without duress or coercion to be lawful. Simple.
And you want to abolish what is simply a notation of a fundamental truth in the natural order of things? Abolishing the 13th A. does not change the right to be free from coercion by any party, whether the state or an individual.
The 13th A. itself does NOT create or allow “state sanctioned slavery.” Imprisonment for a criminal conviction (as opposed to a “violation”) is in the interest of society and its protection from those members who demonstrate a sort of suicidal inclination to harm fellow members. That does NOT equate with slavery. Yes, the prison system IS taking advantage of the incarcerated and that IS wrong and that is what MUST BE ABOLISHED.
What does exist in this country, but is NOT outlawed or prohibited, is the widespread condition of peonage shared and experienced by virtually everyone. Especially those who file a 1040, for example.
In slavery, the slavemaster/owner pays for all of the expenses of the slave. Under peonage, the individuals are indoctrinated (in public school) to fund their own servitude and expenses. It happens because of the birth certificate (BC) fraud that works to the detriment of the ones who, presenting a BC, unwittingly use the property of the state-the “true legal name” the parents invented and registered and recorded on the BC,- the rights to the usage thereof WERE NOT RESERVED BY THE PARENTS on the registering documents. Those rights to the usage of the “true legal name” were abandoned by the parents out of ignorance and devolved to the state as “abandoned property”; see your state code.
Because you were fraudulently induced to participate in the defrauding of your own self, once you wake up, you can realize that you have a case against the perpetrators (the state and county actors and agents and officers) and any “contractual relationships” entered into due to the fraud are VOID ab initio, Nullities from the start.
Geoff
I don’t think we disagree much, and I refer to the specific wording in the 13th Amendment as a retort to your argument. I am not a fan of the constitution as a whole, as many of these loopholes are there including eminent domain in the 5th Amendment.
When basic rights can be amended and fiddled away with Acts, Orders and Directives, there is something wrong with the constitution.
-Clint-
[...] Read why slavery is legal in America through the legal system here: http://realitybloger.wordpress.com/2010/08/15/is-slavery-legal-in-america/ [...]
I have strong beliefs about the penal system in America. It does more harm than good. The labor of the prisoners is absolutely aimed at financial profit for a select few, rather than rehabilitation or actual service benefiting the people.
As for arguments of wage slavery, yes this is the case. Two men start in life. One graduates college and gets a $4 Million trust fund. The other works two jobs to buy a car and keep up with his loan payments. Of course one of them is at a disadvantage. Whose fault is this? Well it is the poor guys fault for not working harder, the rich kid deserves more and obviously works harder, is a better person etc. This is what we all support. There is an inverse relationship between charitableness, hard work and getting rich. This is a fact.
Now. The duties of the police are codified more or less as “To protect the state from its citizens and to serve the legislature and governor.”
But no one here has a right to complain. You vote republican. If not, you’re unwilling to stand up and meet violence and illness with its like. You are unwilling to band together, pool resources and make any form of sacrifice for the greater good.
I-Phone 299.99. 20 new apps $30. An extra 40 Channels $20. Eating out 4 times a month instead of 3, $60 more per month.
So with 3 million people.
899,970,000 per year by keeping your old Iphone
45,000,000 per year limiting oneself to 10 apps
2,160,000,000 per year eating at home one friday a month.
3,104,970,000 Yep. 3 trillion a year from just 3 million people sacrificing very little and putting that money toward their common goals. I didn’t even include dropping the extra premium TV package.
11,415 Brand new homes purchased out right.
9,132,264 a year in rent at just $800 a month and so on.
Hell, for that matter 3 million people descending on the capital with a single penny to throw on the white house lawn. Think about that. We’d be talking about 1 out of every hundred people tossing a penny on the lawn. 9.64 TONS of pennies with a value of about $31,000.
http://www.kokogiak.com/megapenny/
The point is, even just a mere 3 million people, giving a tiny bit, could put and end to a great deal of these things being discussed. In my eyes, this is actual power to the people.
Here’s a free ebook on the subject, PRISON SLAVERY http://books.google.com/books?id=zbTU7QxA7qoC&dq=wicowoco&source=gbs_navlinks_s
When dealing with a lawyer make sure you ask who will actuaally be doing the work as many lawyers will have a paralegal actually do the bulk of the work but are they charging you lawyer or paralegal rates?