This is something I've been thinking about for a while now, but since we've just started comparing slavery in Rome and China it reminded me that I WAS thinking about it. Slavery - Rome acquired slaves through conquest - massive amounts of slaves. They became the backbone of the Roman economy and also contributed partly to Rome's downfall.
I'm thinking of America yet again. We should all be familiar with our nation's past and the issue of slavery. Is slavery, at least a form of slavery, rising again? I think of one of the issues of our presidential campaigns: illegal immigration. Various candidates have different opinions on the issue, but I'm thinking of those already in the United States. Some candidates say they "do the jobs Americans won't." But what are these jobs? Physical labor in a farm field? Landscaping? Contracting? Yes. Think about what the workers give up by being "undocumented." They get paid well below the federal minimum wage (which has recently been raised). They are easily replaceable.
Who are these workers? Ethnically, they are mostly latino. Are they becoming the new slaves in our economy?
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Interesting question! I can connect it to what I learned in Global this morning: we were discussing Rome's progression to the fall of its democracy and the rise of authoritarian government. Many of the problems that Rome's Republic had were ones that we are experiencing in our own government. One problem in Rome, expansion, led to many others. As farmers were out fighting, the wealthy turned their land into latifundia. This lead to the widening of the gap between the rich & the poor. The final outcome was many unemployed, poverty stricken citizens. In America, we also have wide gaps between the rich & poor. This is because many poor people don't have/cannot find jobs. Could this be linked to (illegal) immigration? Are immigrants taking jobs that Americans should have? I don't think that we don't have any type of form of "new slavery" here in the United States, but I do think that jobs & immigration have, of late, been effecting our economics & the race for President.
Jeez, i cant get the first post in any of them.
The question behind this whole thing though is are these illegal immigrants doing these jobs agaisnt there will? I believe the answer to that question is no. If these people decided to pack up and go back from where they came they could do so with relative ease i am thinking. I dont see this as slavery, merely as an issue that needs to be resolved.
Alex
Wow, clearly I have no life, posting this over break and at 9:55 at night, but I do not consider undocumented workers "slaves". Slavery defined in the dictionary asThe state of one bound in servitude as the property of a slaveholder or household.
The practice of owning slaves.
A mode of production in which slaves constitute the principal work force.
The condition of being subject or addicted to a specified influence.
A condition of hard work and subjection: wage slavery., Now I don't believe there is slavery in America, but I do believe there is a sub-conscience of segregation, some people won't even sit near other hispanics, which is not ok. But I do believe that they contribute to the economy in ways our society will never appreciate. They are the building block, you said it yourself, contracting, manual labour, wheat fields, sounds a lot like the proletarian. The proletarian, have always been treated unfairly, but I don't think this trend, of sub conscience reform into legal slavery will ever occur. I do believe a revolution will occur. Look at all other countries that have been longer than the US, France, Britain, they all have great democracies. How can we call ourselves a democracy, if we treat the lowest class, the proletarian, like waste? We can't. We don't Live in a Democracy, we live in an Oligarchy where the Bourgeois control our government, so much that there are fraudulent, or controlled elections - does the "electoral college" ring a bell? The lobbyists who are a perfect example for the Bourgeois influence the decisions of the politicians, so the rich and the powerful really have this all figured out. I think in the next election we will see this division between rich and poor diminish or get closer together, either that or an eventual revolution. Our country is young, and we can be compared to Rome and you can see a tremendous similarity. There is a problem when you have young countries, with oligarchies controlling the worlds economy, important things like Healthcare seem to slip, where our health care intentions are for the money, and where we meet unacceptable standards. I think there will be a revolt, a revolution, I think this revolt will be lead by the most important people - the proletarian, so there will no longer be this segregation, and so there will actually be a democracy in the United States.
mr shrinsky, first I hope that you are enjoying your holiday. I think that your post raises some interesting issues. In a way, the illegal immigrants of our society are similar to slaves. Like slaves, some work in harsh conditions and are given limited rights. Unlike the slaves of ancient china, they do not work under a contract and have no health insurance. In addition, some of our presidential candidates want to ban them from recieving drivers licenses. They effect our economy because they are replacing natives by working at a lower cost leaving many Americans jobless. The frequent border crossings have raised power and control issues in America; should we close our borders? Also, by closing our borders to our neighbors this contradicts what America is known for which is the land of opportunities and hope. Maybe if the immigrants fixed the problems of their country we would never have these issues to begin with.
I think that like the slaves of Rome, illegal immigrants will be the leading cause of our demise but hopefully our government can put an end this issue.
Sorry Caroline, I have to disagree with you there, immigrants won't be the lead to our demise! We are all immigrants, we all have relatives from another country, and we really are the most ethnocentric country in the world we don't realize that. To blame the fall of our country, like that of Rome, on a particular group of people, such as immigrants, would be similar to the Nazi use of scapegoats, and would be unjustly targeting groups of people. If you want to blame a certain group of people, it is us. "If your looking for the guilty, you need only to look in a mirror." We let corruption escalate, we let the rich control our government, we ignore international laws, because people fear our government and dare not to question it. Our healthcare is terrible, our elections ARE fraud (electoral college), there is a humungous gap between the rich and the poor, and frankly the government doesn't care about the people, it cares about the economy. Anyone who denies that our current administration's focus is on enterprise and the economy, hasn't been paying attention. The Iraq war was an aspect of money, oil, and other natural resources. Global Climate Change is the most important issue. I pose this question: What direct group are we fighting against in the middle east? Groups of people kill themselves and others, that may not even be affiliated with terrorists. Benezir Bhutto was assassinated, and all the governments in the Middle East are doing terrible jobs. We can't help them. So now think. Who is really at fault? We are, we let this corruption escalate. And it all started with Nixon and Reagan - to deny this, is to deny apples are fruits.
Sorry tyler I did not mean to say immigrants in general rather illegal immigrants. What would be the problem if they just got a visa or some sort of certification???
The problem is our government is to single minded to allow people who are willing to become legal and work to enter and register. It really is catalytic, and crazy.
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