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have to realize that the definition of "slave" is "a human being without rights." It doesn't matter whether the condition is temporary or permanent; the determining factor is being without the ability to exercise one's natural rights, among which the most important are life, liberty, and private property.

Someone who has been convicted of a crime and sentenced to prison is, by definition, a slave - although it is hardly politic to point this out. Chattel slavery, that is, the legal institution that permitted private individuals to own other human beings, was abolished in the United States, but if we read the Constitution carefully, the amendment abolishing slavery excepts "persons duly convicted of crimes" as well as "ownership" by the State from the general abolition. The idea is that a prison term will rehabilitate the convict and fit him or her to "reenter" society, slaves being considered "outside" society, or "outlaws."

The idea of rehabilitation is, in fact, the only possible justification for any kind of slavery, even the most humane alternative. Frankly, what else are you supposed to do with criminals? If you fail to punish them, they simply continue to carry out crimes. If you execute them, you cut short (as it were) any possibility that the criminal will reform and once again become a useful member of society.

The only alternative is to enslave the criminal until such time as the State deems it proper to release him or her. Leaving this in private hands (i.e., turning a criminal into a chattel) - as was done in prior days in order to save the State money and get some utility out of the criminal - creates a private property right in the criminal. A convict cannot be released without violating the private property rights of the owner . . . but it is also patently unjust to leave someone in slavery who is clearly fit to reenter society.

We can see why Thomas Jefferson avoided the whole issue of property rights and liberty in the Declaration of Independence: it was just too complex an issue, and far too many people would have been offended, one way or another. The issue was freedom from Great Britain. Freedom for black slaves would have to wait for another, and bloodier war.

Despite the Civil War, however, the problem of economic dependency on the part of most people in the world remains. As Cobbett pointed out, without secure ownership of private property - and he meant income-generating property, not consumer goods or even a generous wage or pension - people are in a condition of slavery to those who do have property.

The only solution to this growing problem of economic slavery is to find a way to open up democratic access to the means of acquiring and possessing private property. One such proposal is called, "capital homesteading for every citizen," from the book of the same name. By allowing every person to acquire a pro rate share of the new wealth that is created each year, everyone would gradually become the owner of a significant stake of income-generating assets, thereby ending their dependency on wages and welfare, and finally ending slavery by addressing its root causes. As William Cobbett said, "You may twist the word freedom as long as you please, but at last it comes to quiet enjoyment of your own property, or it comes to nothing."

Learn more about this author, Michael Greaney.
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