Profiting From Modern Slavery

SLAVERY, which was once legal in the United States, still is. If in doubt, consult the thirteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution. We transferred the institution of slavery from the cotton and tobacco plantations to the prisons, cleverly and conveniently. Abraham Lincoln was quite the tyrant, and after all, he always said that his purpose was not to end slavery, but rather, to preserve the union. He perpetuated both, the latter, by a hair. Our prisons, and the slavery within, have since sprouted prolifically across the fruited plain, and have largely become privatized, profit seeking businesses. It costs a lot to incarcerate a convict, something like thirty grand a year, but prisons incorporated, one can rest assured, easily recoups the investment, thus making it highly lucrative, and irresistibly tempting, to lock people up. In essence, we are right back where we started, with a significant portion of the population incarcerated, enslaved. Anyone who doubts that prison is slavery is welcome to consult any current or recently released convict. For those incarcerated, every moment of every day is lived under the direct control of the state. Slavery, legalized. First, criminalize as much behavior as possible. Criminalize recreational drugs. Criminalize sex. then, round up the "offenders", especially the poor with little or no legal recourse, and lock them away, minorities first. Although the U.S. prison population is now decreasing as we finally comprehend the insanity of imprisoning people who use or sell recreational drugs, it remains quite high, too high, among the highest in the world, per capita. Any endeavor which makes money is destined to flourish in America, so it well may be that the current trend of decreased populations is only temporary, and that we will soon return to our normal state of being: with millions of non violent offenders sitting in cages, making money for their owners.