Slavery

FACT-FINDER #141

While chattel slavery was prohibited by the XIII Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (ratified 12-6-1865), there are other forms of slavery that are equally as destructive to a person’s freedom that are still with us, today, such as drugs and alcohol abuse. While a person can be liberated from such slavery with diligent and concentrated efforts of self-control, which, while not easy, is still humanly possible, there remains one vicious form of slavery that is seemingly not humanly possible to liberate oneself from, and that is the kind of slavery created by the federal government through its ever increasing tax burden. These taxes are used to finance a plethora of unnecessary and wasteful spending.

In the Investor’s Business Daily for April 13, 1999, there is an article titled: "The Growing Menace Of Tax Slavery," which clearly shows the progression of the tax burden mandated by the federal government since 1902. According to the author, as of 1902, workers started working for themselves on January 31. By 1922, the freedom from the federal tax burden moved to February, 17th. In 1948, it had moved to March 28th. Each year it has moved up further in the year so by 1998, it had moved to May 10, with no end in sight.

According to the article, one most interesting observation about the slavery of government taxation was pronounced not in modern times, but all the way back to 60 A.D. by Queen Boadicea of Iceni in ancient Britain. In her exhortation to her people to throw off Roman taxation, she said: "How much better it would be to have been sold to masters (into chattel slavery), than possessing empty titles of freedom to have to ransom ourselves every year (with Roman taxes).

While Queen Boadicea might have lamented the once a year slavery created by the ransoming of oneself to the Roman government, we, today, pay a ransom not only once a year to the federal government, but we must pay a ransom almost daily to state and local governments in everything we do, such as sales taxes on almost everything we purchase. In fact, so greedy are some taxing bodies, such as the City of Chicago, if you buy an automobile outside the city, the City of Chicago demands you still pay the city’s sales tax. Also, the City of Chicago then demands a yearly ownership fee of $75. On top of that are state license and driver’s license fees. If you own a business, federal, state and local governments all add multiple taxes and fees.

Slavery also comes in other forms of human bondage, such as the slavery created by the federal government over state governments through federal mandates that force states to pass laws not wanted by state citizens, nor even needed, under the threat of withholding federal highway taxes from states that do not comply. States’ rights, for all practical purposes, is a dead issue, and states are now mere slaves of the federal government, the very kind of tyranny our Founding Fathers thought they prohibited through the Constitution. Little did our Founding Fathers realize how modern day members of Congress would connive with the presidency and the judiciary, that is, the Supreme Court, in upholding federal mandates. Instead of three separate branches of the federal government, which was envisioned by our Founding Fathers, we have really only one central federal government with three heads, all at the expense of not just states’ rights, but, more importantly, the loss of individual personal rights as guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

In the latter case, this has been most proven by the Supreme Court’s decision earlier in the year 2001 in the Atwater case whereby the majority of justices approved a Texas police officer arresting, handcuffing, and jailing a woman for not using a seat belt, a victimless, state created crime. It should be fully noted, the majority of justices referred to earlier cases whereby such action was accepted in court decisions under other circumstances, which shows how the progression of tyranny advances little by little. In those earlier cases, no one in government objected, which set a precedent for further erosion of liberty, and the majority of the present members of the Supreme Court took full advantage of such successful attacks on our freedom to further erode the Bill of Rights. The silence of members of Congress against such a violation of a person’s individual personal rights, equally shows how this conspiracy of the once three branches of our federal government is working hard to reduce the Bill of Rights to a mere declaration of privileges, and is in readiness for further steps on the path to totalitarianism.

Such slavery is also clearly evident in states forcing people to use a seat belt harness, which amounts to involuntary servitude, another violation of the XIII Amendment, in addition to violation of other Amendments.

It is time for the people to start electing only those candidates who still believe in the Constitution, especially, the Bill of Rights, and to vote out those who do not. While reducing taxes might take on a great deal of complicated actions, repeal of a state mandatory seat belt harness law in a particular state is a good start in the right direction that is within reach of citizens of any state. The people can organize for that purpose and carry the purpose to the election booth. The ballot box is still the one most powerful force left to change course, back to a government bound by the Constitution.

More by William J. Holdorf.

last modified:Wednesday,March 19, 2008 at 04:40