You are right that citizens, including in the USA right now, today, are just state chattels to be disposed of as per eminent domain. Slaves actually, but at a higher level than the early slaves whose degree of freedom was very low. <I suspect that the great British empire's history is full of examples of "subjects" that would have been hard pressed to tell the difference from the life of a slave. Personally, I think slavery was probably the biggest mistake this country ever made. That debt will not be zeroed out for generations.>
It was not long ago that the USA would forcibly grab people and make them be soldiers and ship them off to Vietnam. Same in NZ. One of my second cousins was imprisoned during WWII for daring to have an opinion and expressing it. Freedom is pretty thin on the ground anywhere you look around the world.
But even with the state chattel aspect of life in the British Empire, and the current situation in the USA, it is and was a LOT better than being a slave on a southern plantation, or being forced into servitude on a slave ship in Africa. Or, indeed, remaining in Africa and being a slave there, which was probably even worse.
The descendants of those slaves should be pretty happy that their ancestors ended up in the USA.
Slavery wasn't a "mistake", like the o-ring failure on the space shuttle, it was a deliberate decision, for personal gain. That's not a "mistake".
Mqurice |
