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. (https://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/

.

Clint Richardson (realitybloger.wordpress.com)

Sunday, August 15, 2010