Whom Shall Ye Serve?

Welcome to indentured servitude.

The title of this post is from Joshua 24:15.

This is Part 1 in a 3-part series:

Part 2: You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits

Part 3: The Simple Pass On

For years now, at least 7, maybe 10, I’ve been trying to get pretty much anyone I talk to, to understand just how dire is the fiscal state of the United States. Without success so far as I know. But, never give up, as Churchill said!

“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

— Winston Churchill

I’m looking at the number I circled in red on the right side of the image above; 38.21%. That’s where our current spending rate stands, 38.21% of GDP, aka Gross Domestic Product. In other words, GDP is a measure of the total production of We the People. GDP is the combined fruit of our labor. And the 38.21% is the percentage of those fruits that we “contribute” to governments at the local, state and federal levels.

Let’s do some quick math: 38.21% is approximately 4.6 months per year. That means for every 8 hour workday we work 3 hours for government, For every 2 years and 8 months we’ve worked, on average, 1 year for government. Every 18 years and 8 months we’ve worked 7 years for government. And for approximately every 37 years we’ve worked, 14 years has been for government. Let’s say your career, or careers, span 45 years, that seems like a pretty good rough estimate; you have worked or will work for the various levels of government for 17 years.

Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an "indenture", may be entered voluntarily for eventual compensation or debt repayment, or it may be imposed as a judicial punishment. Historically, it has been used to pay for apprenticeships, typically when an apprentice agreed to work for free for a master tradesman to learn a trade (similar to a modern internship but for a fixed length of time, usually seven years or less). Later it was also used as a way for a person to pay the cost of transportation to colonies in the Americas.

The first thing that comes to my mind is that I would have much rather serviced my indenture over the course of 7 years, or 14, 17, or whatever, early in my careers, and in consecutive years, and then been free of it. But the point I’m trying to make is that willingly or not, we have rendered ourselves to be indentured servants of government. Let that sink in. Really, 3 hours daily I am working, indirectly perhaps, for government. And effectively without pay. Does that seem like a bargain you would strike intentionally? “Yessir, for the privilege of being a U.S. citizen, and a citizen of Michigan and the city of Hartford, I’m willing to give you 17 years of my life. Yessir. No question, Sir. Sign me up!” I really can’t imagine myself saying that, but it is what in effect I have said for decades. Can you imagine yourself saying that?

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Amendment XIII to the United States Constitution

What crime have we committed? I think an attorney could make for me an argument that the tax-paying citizenry are now indentured servants to government, in the legal sense. Regardless, as I have shown briefly, we are de facto if not de jure indentured servants. And I must add, we have made indentured servants of our children, and probably grandchildren. The question then for me is, what can be done about it? And the next question is, what the hell are we spending all that money on?!

…food for thought