The Freest Slaves in History

Do you believe you are free? If you are a citizen of the Western world you probably do. But are you really? If you work for someone else, say, a corporation or other business, are you sure you are free? In other words, if you are what is classed as an employee, are you free? If you believe that freedom starts with equality; that freedom starts with never being in a subordinate position, then as an employee you are not.

But you say, "I can leave at anytime, I'm not forced to stay at my job, therefore I am free." But is this actually true? Unless you have another job lined up, you are very good at saving your money (if you were paid enough to save in the first place) and have enough in the bank to hold you over, you have a partner, friend or family member that earns enough to support you while you are unemployed, or unemployment / welfare programs are enough for you to survive, then you will not leave your job.

But let's say you are fired, or quit. Where will you go? You will go to another job and return to the same subordinate position as before, just at a different location. If you believe you are free because you can leave a job only to continue at another of the sort ad-infinitum, then you are naive or ignorant.

Whenever there is another person that has the power to change your life as dramatically as the loss of a job does, you are not free. You are capable of being told what to do so to not have your family starve, and you still believe you are free? You are ordered around and must comply so not to be evicted from your apartment, and you really believe you are free?

Even your government knows you are not. They have passed legislation to limit the amount you can be coerced, but they have not eliminated it substantially. The acts that legalized unions, created labour boards, workman compensation, unemployment insurance, the minimum wage, the 40 hour work week, overtime pay, workplace safety standards, sexual harassment penalties, and other social organizations, programs and laws all limit how much an employer can take advantage of you, but they don't put you on a level playing field. That is because at its core an employer/employee relationship is that of owner/slave, just in a diluted form.

In order to have true freedom you must have equality. Everyone must be in an equal position in order to make decisions and perform actions that are beneficial to them or at least not detrimental for the benefit of another (by the use of coercion).

The main problem that stops this from occurring (everyone in an equal position) is two-fold. The first is that nature has made people better at certain things than others. The second is how do we put in place rules that equal this natural inequality. These questions have been answered in so many different ways by so many different philosophers and sociologists throughout history that a complete discussion on it would take much more space than a single article would allow. But if we concentrate our thoughts on the topic at hand we can see some solutions.

Since the employer/employee relationship is naturally unequal it must be eliminated. Everyone needs to be their own boss. Work is done on a contract basis by self-employed individuals Social benefits such as unemployment insurance, workman compensation, dental insurance are all collected from workers and distributed by the government. Jobs are given through negotiation between two individuals on an equal standing since no one works for anyone else. Every business is owned by an individual who, if help is needed, contracts out work to other individuals.

But is this simple solution workable? How would our society look afterward? Would it be better off? The problem that corporate leaders would table is the amount of capital it takes to develop certain projects (oil and gas exploration and airports and airplane fleets are two examples). If everyone is his own business then the capital wouldn't be available. There wouldn't even be a bank large enough to finance the project. And if the government is the only bank are we not just a carbon copy of the former U.S.S.R.?

The only answer to this problem is that a person would be contracting long-term with large numbers. But would that not only be what we had before but all employees are just contract workers without benefits from the company. Isn't that just regression dressed up as progression? In fact couldn't you argue that the elimination of the employee would benefit certain individuals who get large contracts and then profit from subcontracting to others? And then we are back into the same situation as before aren't we?

Now you understand something you can take to heart. That is, men are not meant to be equal in what is understood as a free society. A free society is only free for some, for others it becomes just another mild form of slavery. Society has always been run by an elite class. In a Monarchy it's the royalty and aristocracy. In a Dictatorship, it's the dictator and his money men. In a Communist state, it's the government and its officials. And in a liberal Democracy, it's the elected government and the owners (or majority share holders) of the large corporations. If you are not one of them then how free do you think you are? Wake up already!

As a multi-millionaire from the 70s once sang:

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be.

- John Lennon, from the album Plastic Ono Band and song "Working Class Hero."

Article by:
The Ignorant Intellectual

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