We, the people, sounds like a unified group effort to create a population of chattel and perpetual poverty under authoritarian dictatorship. A land of serfs. The unwilling participants in a free market society, unable to rid themselves of oppression and exploitation, left holding the bag. They’re the grunts who ceaselessly work for their survival, bending the knee to the elite, self-serving rich and powerful. They have no free will to make decisions about their own lives or their lot in living them. Meager wages and no safety net. Slaves, to the extent that they have no rights or inclusion to speak out against forced servitude, oppression, and discrimination. Targeted minority groups are specifically exploited by the majority in this country and others around the globe.
It’s nothing new, tracing back to ancient civilizations that forced people to do things that they didn’t want to. Kept ignorant, poor, and naïve. They believed this was justified and, in fact, condoned by the ruling elite through violence and intimidation. Constant threats of death and physical abuse from leading oppressors and their allies. To keep people down, servile to the needs of the wealthy. Those greedy old men who believe they’re somehow better than the rest of us. They’re the worst offenders in any society; the power they hold over the less fortunate is equal to their ability to make others do their bidding. The hierarchy of wealth and its influence by corruption and manipulation have many implications.
It’s not the world that’s the issue. It’s so-called uncivilized society. Throughout history, men have treated the weak and vulnerable as chattel. The Vikings called them thralls. The unfortunate ones were conquered by these Norsemen, who burned, raped, and pillaged while turning men, women, and children into a commodity. To sell and barter human victims to the highest bidders. It was the price for profiteers expanding their empire. The Romans did it, giving new meaning to the phrase, When in Rome, do as the Romans do. The Egyptians built the pyramids using slaves as cheap labor. Centuries later the Nazis tried it again, but this time it was mass extermination.
The abomination of slavery appeared in every corner of the world throughout recorded history. In ancient Mesopotamia, the earliest legal codes, like the Code of Hammurabi, supported, recognized, promoted, and regulated slavery. In Greece, slaves, who were often prisoners of war, debtors, or people born into servitude, practiced forced labor, which was essential to the functioning of city-states. The Romans expanded slavery on an industrial scale, using enslaved people for everything from agriculture to household work, servants, concubines, and entertainment in the Roman coliseum’s gladiator spectacles.
Across Africa, societies there also practiced slavery, selling captives to Arabian and later European traders. The transatlantic slave trade, beginning in the 16th century, saw millions of Africans forcibly transported to the Americas. They endured brutal conditions on plantations, in mines, and in the farm fields and homes of the rich. Even after the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, sadistic forms of forced labor thrived. Human trafficking has persisted into the present-day crimes of sex slave rings and below-minimum-wage jobs. The history of slavery is the chronicle of modern civilization's capitalist-driven consumer society. It’s also an example of modern racism nowadays. The American dream of prosperity and freedom is the oldest lie, built upon the backs of slaves, not to mention the genocide of all indigenous tribes across the country, trying to exterminate the native population and the buffaloes.
Slavery’s the foundation of our entire culture and country. Built by the selfish interests of a few to keep the many down. Our culture, through religion and mock morality, feeds on the poor to sustain and support the status quo’s power over our freedom and destiny. Democracy is the excuse they use to make us believe we have a choice. The failure of our system to protect, serve, and defend us is a direct result and insult of this neglect, incompetence, and abuse of power. A recent report from the US Coast Guard states, “Symbols such as swastikas, nooses, Confederate flags, and other extremist or racist imagery violate our core values and are treated with the seriousness they warrant under current policy.” It was always the American way, or no way.