The Slacker's Guide to the Great Remission: HISTORY OF SLAVERY, part 2

Serfs up, Dude

Many of us dream of having a bit of land to build a house, to plant a garden and maybe have a few chickens; somewhere to eventually retire, stop struggling and finally live a life of peace and self-sufficiency. If only we could make enough money to buy that piece of land then all would be well. Not!

The lords of the past, proud owners of huge tracts of land are gone, subdued to the status of lowly serfs thanks to centralized government.

Property taxes reduce landowners to slaves by forcing them into the money system. They must have a source of income in order to keep their property. Non-payment of taxes forfeits land back to the government, literally making true “ownership ” of property impossible. Today, only land speculation is possible. True ownership is not.

Check out a property deed sometime. It lists the “owners” as tenants. You aren't an owner at all. What you have is fee simple control of that property. You pay a fee to the true owner and you get temporary control.

True property ownership is called allodial title. You can't have that. In Canada allodial title is held by the Queen of England. All of Canada is "crown" land. In the US, allodial title is held by Uncle Sam. As long as you pay these oligarchs your fees, they allow you a place to live.

Citizens are considered a form of national property—human resources—owned by the nation in which they were born or forced to pledge allegiance to. If you forfeit allegiance you become a "traitor," a crime punishable by death.

Without such paperwork as birth certificates and citizenship papers it is illegal to simply stand on land within the boundaries claimed by different governmental regimes.

Slavery today is de jure, legislated into the system itself. The “working poor” are a class of landless peasants who work, yet are unable to afford even the most meager shelter, clothing or food, forcing them to search out other forms of assistance in order to live.

Don’t believe it? Try not paying your taxes or openly challenging the laws that harness you. Property violations like tax evasion or theft often carry stiffer sentences than violent crimes like rape, homicide or logging.

The system North Americans live under should be called “Jonesing.” It is a psychological program, a pointless game wherein you scramble to keep up and surpass each other financially. “Play the game to win and you will succeed,” they tell you. “Obey the rules, become rich and you will be happy.” Falter and you will be punished.

But the rules always change and the slave cracks the whip across his own back in the quest for a monetary Nirvana that at best only temporarily assuages his bitterness, pain and fear.

It's time to wake up. Slackers are the new commoners. We know the commons still exist. It consists of the whole, delicious enchilada: not just here on Turtle Island but on this entire blue orb. Slackers are its stewards and while we have no “right” to own anything, neither does anyone else!

to be continued...

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Image credit
Preface part 1, part 2
Introduction
Why Slack? part 1, part 2
The Purpose of Life
Paradox of Civilization:part 1 part 2
History of Slavery: part 1