Is there still slavery?

( I place this in this category of race because of the MLK day today, Dr. King is one of my greatest inspirations. I too have a dream) Though this is not the debate of this thread I believe reparations to the slaves should be 200 hundred years of business advantages (affirmative action) to the blacks until they have the same wealth proportionate to the whites from top to bottom. This is not saying people like me should be indentured slaves which would actually be true punishment, if one believed in eye for an eye tough justice.

On this day it is very appropriate we remember and discuss issues like this (slavery) to me it is a great way to respect those who have fought and even died for equality. 1, Is slavery/in-equality the same thing, similar or different?

2, Was the civil war the end of slavery in the US? Or was when the blacks got the right to vote the end of slavery, or when women the right to vote the end of slavery? Or was it when MLK helped get the rights to equality the end of slavery? Or will it be when women are earning equal pay for the same exact job. 3, Or will it be when be when all have an equal chance of pursuit of justice and livelihood? 4, Are we virtually all slaves to the human nature/destiny of the ultra rich that are the kings even in capitalism? 5, Do the ultra rich do everything things in their power to make sure they never lose their hold/control, and would that be justified human nature?.

If you notice it seems to me the most severe/largest theft damaging crimes by Americans in our society are by white people. We can look at it statistically, I have heard whites are mass murderers, including examples like Tim McVeigh. Anecdotally I notice all the major criminals in the major corporate crime appear to be whites, again anecdotally . From Ken Lay of Enron , defense contractor fraud, the bank thefts in the 80s when Reagan deregulated the banks (i.e. get the government off the backs of business, a republican theme) so at least one of the Bush1 kids with no banking experience could be involved as a board member on as major bank that cost taxpayers 1 billion dollars and no one went to jail, and so on. Is this why it is called “white collar crime”?

I think we can agree that the majority of corporations are represented by republicans. and as a result I come to several conclusions, first as an employee are you a slave to the republicans? As I pointed out did slavery end in the civil war, or was it when people received the right to vote or was it when people had the right to sit anywhere in a bus, or is it when we have equal pay or is it when we have equal and identical opportunities? As we know a major saying in our society is “it is not what you know but who you know” this I believe is statement truism to slavery. Example of this is high paying jobs are doled out with defense contactors, and from my experience as an Engineer these jobs pay over 50% more than identical positions in the real world. And from my experience these jobs are for “who you know persons” of the republican persuasions. Thus I postulate the perfect example of one method of propagating slavery. There are many more.

As a real world example when there were a bunch of layoff in the defense contactors I was a VP of Engineering of a private company. We were hiring Engineers and I interviewed several Engineers that were working for defense contractors, I was shocked at how little they had ever done in their careers and how much they were being paid. As a VP of a private industry company I saw these Engineers with no management experience were being paid up to 50% to 100% more than I was and they did not even have degrees in some cases. I did hire one of them (pay cut for him) and that was the biggest error in hiring I ever made in my professional career. On a different tangent one of my best friends in-laws worked for a defense contractor as a technician, (I paid technicians about a quarter of that which was the free-market norm) also making more than I did and he made sure by request that not only did his wife vote republican but his kids and in-laws so he could keep his high paying job. Again keeping the king in their positions for the true trickle down theory. And why do I pick on defense contractors, because I have real life examples and they work on no-bid government cost plus government contracts (i.e. the more they pay or spend with inept or incompetent workers the more they make) to keep their kingdom. I have to support that, with my hard work, so am or was I a slave?

Fittingly we have a confirmation hearing of a supreme court nominee who once bragged by placing on his resume to high powers of the government that he belonged to a prejudicial organization. Do we think that supreme court judges who we do not get to vote for with lifetime appointments should be spic and span clean, or do we settle on people that have potentially tainted pasts interpreting the document that gives individuals rights like the right to vote and not be slaves. Was his bragging on a resume to the republican party member a code word to show he is part of the gang, similar to the old railroad days with watermarked paper. Is this just another legal way to discriminate? Do the people lose individual freedoms when potential racists or corporatists get into the highest powers of authority?

6, In light of these questions and statements are we moving towards greater human freedom and equality in today’s American society?

The reasons for which Martin Luther King Jr. is celebrated, are an inspiration to me… Questions for the debate are highlighted.