Good Happy song for Friday. Now enjoy this awesome song freedom lovers!
Ron Paul 2012
...Kid Rock and Ron Paul in the same post? Talk about poor taste.
everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I think the song fits perfect for freedom lovers and Ron Paul is a freedom lover. But then again I got my office so fucking hot that it feels like grandmas house. Have a great weekend! I won't be debating, I respect your opinion but feel differently,
...Ron Paul doesn't love freedom.
Yeh, yeh, I know, you won't be debating.
because Ron Paul believes in free markets. And markets, by their nature, do not promote freedom. Rather, they promote slavery. The only difference is that instead of slaves being owned, they're rented.
But, it is Friday and he probably hasn't reached his weekly quota yet . . . .
...yes. But my job isn't performed as a for-profit operation, so it's not quite so horrible. I have a fair degree of control over my own labor.
This is hardly a radical notion, by the way. During the emancipation debates this nation had before the Civil War, it was argued that chattle slaves were treated better than rented slaves, for the same reason that you treat any property your own better than property you rent.
The fact that you are part of a not-for-profit operation is painfully obvious. As for slaves being treated better than "rented slaves," did anybody ask the slaves themselves? Personally, I was a "rented slave" (by your definition) for about 30 years. I made a huge amount of money at it. Thanks, Massa!
by today's standards, such a comparison sounds silly, but it certainly wasn't silly at the time. It's not a surprise that once chattle slavery ended, many decided to become share croppers rather than work in the cities.
Nothing is more important in one's life than to be able to control their own labor. That's why just about everyone who works for somebody hates their job, while people who control their labor can't wait to start the day. It has nothing to do with ambition, or drive, or hard work, or dedication. It has everything to do with freedom. All the money in the world ain't worth your freedom.
In fact, I never had any desire to work for myself. I worked hard enough to get a great job that I loved. The 20 years of my true career were a blast and I also made a ton of money. What you don't get is that a big percentage of us don't actually hate our jobs, or, at least, don't feel exploited. I guess you'd call that blissful ignorance.
PS: I actually understand that sharecropping was "slavery lite." That's why so many blacks went north to work in factories (along with the Jim Crow culture of the south back then.) But it certainly wasn't as bad is chattel slavery, where men were beaten, women raped and families torn apart.
You said you have no desire to work for yourself. What's interesting about that, is that is the only way in corporate America that you can control your own labor. Unless, of course, if you work at a worker cooperative.
The ability to manage a business is a talent. Some people have it, some don't. Why should people with this talent (and the capital to back it up) be the only ones who have the freedom to control their own labor?
The fact remains. The vast majority of the US public hates their jobs. Why is that?
couldnt be a free spirit or creative working 40 hrs/ 40 years for someone else. everyone should own their own business. it will teach you so much about people and society. it will force you to set boundaries if you have a big heart. it's fun watching something you created, grow. And it is by far the best life for being a free spirit without being a free loader and burden on society. I will never be able to go back and work for somebody elses dream again. But it's saturday guys. And I have to work 4 hrs this morning, because I choose to. Have a great day!
The ability to manage a business is a talent. Some people have it, some don't. Why should people with this talent (and the capital to back it up) be the only ones who have the freedom to control their own labor?
The fact remains. The vast majority of the US public hates their jobs. Why is that?
when you equate not controlling your own labor with virtual slavery. The comparison falls of its own weight. I was free to sell my services elsewhere to the highest bidder. What you are saying just makes you sound foolish.
If you work for someone else, does it not follow that you then have a boss?
What does a boss do? He tells you what to do with your labor.
When someone tells you what to do with your labor, what does that make you?
Being free to sell your labor to other slave masters doesn't change the fact that selling your labor is slavery.
Being a rented slave is no better than being an owned slave. People pretend it's better because we take labor laws for granted. But when those laws don't exist, you have a very different reality.
Related links:
http://www.globalexchange.org/sweatfree/saipan/womenwork
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Abramoff_CNMI_scandal
First of all, it must have been clear I had a boss and, obviously he (and sometimes she) told me what to do. I freely chose this situation because it suited me. I produced very good work and was very well paid for it. Find any definition of slavery that includes this scenario.
you chose not to. The vast majority choose not to. But they are free to choose nonetheless.
THAT"S freedom.
People like willy just have a hard time understanding the concept of being responsible for one's self.
They need someone else to blame to explain away their lack of courage. They make themselves slaves.
Nicky, this concept has been understood for quite a long time. Hell, even Enlightenment thinkers talked about it. Even Adam Smith said such that wage slavery reduces a human being to being "as stupid as they can possibly be".
You didn't freely chose to work for someone. You were coerced into it. You can test this with a simple experiment. If you could go to your job and make say $80,000 many would do it. But if you could stay home and sit on your ass and make a little less money, what would you choose?
I'm not saying that we should have a society of people who sit on their ass, but this alone demonstrates that no one freely chooses to become a slave. They are forced to become a slave.
How were you coerced into becoming a slave? I think Simon Linguet summed it up pretty damn well, way back in 1767:
"it is the impossibility of earning a living by any other means that compels our farm laborers to till the soil whose fruits they will not eat and our masons to construct buildings in which they will not live. It is want that drags them to those markets where they await masters who will do them the kindness of buying them. It is want that compels them to go down on their knees to the rich man in order to get from him permission to enrich him. What effective gain has the suppression of slavery brought him? He is free, you say, that is his misfortune. These men, it is said, have no master. They have one, and the most terrible, the most imperious of masters: that is need. It is this that reduces them to the most cruel dependence."
-- Modified on 11/12/2011 11:08:34 AM
It applies to the poor, but not to everyone. Bullshit then, bullshit now.
You have only to look at pro sports, where players making millions per year are using Willy's "logic" and claiming "wage slavery"
Bullshit then, Bullshit now.
If a poor person works a job where he's told what to do with his labor, then by your own admission, he is a wage slave.
If an upper class person works a job where he's told what to do with his labor, then he's not a wage slave?
Really?
That's like saying the house slave wasn't a slave because she got better treatment or lived in better conditions than the field slave. What sense does that make?
GaG brings up a good point in regards to pro sports. So the question is are pro sports atheletes overpaid, underpaid, or paid exactly what they're worth?
He never said poor people are wage slaves, he just said pro athletes aren't. As for them being overpaid, they are not, almost by definition. If the team owners are willing to pay them huge sums it's because their business model supports the expense.
I done my time working for years in two major corporations. I was not a fit in cubeland with corporate bullshit and backbiting people. It was an awful time in my life. Thank God escorting saved me from that life! And thank God escorting providing a way and courage for me to manifest my dream! I am pretty happy how my life has unfolded so far. We are living in curious times, but I am a little excited to see whats around the corner.
Now back to my Captain Morgans and Coke, think I will play some Bob Marley. It don't get any better than that.
Cheers!
This is hardly a radical notion, by the way. During the emancipation debates this nation had before the Civil War, it was argued that chattle slaves were treated better than rented slaves, for the same reason that you treat any property your own better than property you rent.
He has neither the skills or ability to compete in a free market place and it scares him. Therefore, anything that offers the individual real freedom of choice is a threat to him and something he will cry out against.
But do not be mad at Willy, instead I would say do as I do, and pity him. It is a sad existence when one must live their entire life in fear, knowing deep down their abilities are not sufficient to make them independent.
When I think of Willy, I think of a man on the beach, trying with all his efforts to push back the incoming tide. He knows he can't, but he has no alternative.
