As others have said, libertarianism is the radical notion that you don’t own other people. That’s probably one of the reasons I find the philosophy so attractive. After all, I grew up believing that slavery is wrong, so being consistent with that idea comes naturally to me.
But recently I came across a group calling itself “Americans for a National Service Act” and it dawned on me that I never really gave the pro-slavery argument a fair chance. Perhaps I’ve just been narrow-minded. Fortunately, ANSA has a website in which they explain the sunny side of involuntary servitude. Their mission is simple:
“Service Nation is a 12-month non-partisan grassroots and grass top political campaign intent on pushing the issue of National Service to the forefront of American life and convincing the next President and Congress to put into law a Voluntary National Service Act in 2009. The secondary goal of Service Nation is to set America on a trajectory to become a nation of comprehensive and voluntary national service by 2020.”
Although the ANSA website clearly states that “Service Nation does not support mandatory service requirements,” it also clearly states that one of ANSA’s tasks is to “disseminate the ideas of Voluntary and Mandatory National Service.” ANSA seems to be aware of the contradiction, but not terribly concerned with it.
“When people speak of National Service, the question invariably arises whether we are talking about voluntary or mandatory service. The answer is both. There are worthwhile ideas to be discussed with both systems. Some people believe that an incentive-based voluntary system is more politically viable. Some people think that National Service will not be effective unless it is mandatory. Certainly, with either option the devil is in the details. We need only commit ourselves to the proposition of National Service and the competition of ideas will eventually lead us to the best solution.”
Yes, indeed – a national service plan that will be comprehensive and voluntary, as well as mandatory (if voluntary doesn’t turn out to be comprehensive enough for those imposing the service on others). By 2020, Service Nation wants over 100 million Americans to spend at least a year of their lives in voluntary-but-if-all-else-fails-mandatory service to the state. ANSA feels that this opportunity should be its own reward, but they are kind enough to offer other inducements as well.
For example, one of the real selling points of this plan is that you get to choose how you will spend that year (within certain government-approved limits, of course). In fact, there are no fewer than five – count ‘em, five – areas in which US subjects could be enslaved to the state. National Security, Nation Building/Disaster Recovery, Conservation, Education, and Public HATS (Health, Administration, Transportation, and Safety). If only Kunta Kinte had had so many options!
I have to give ANSA credit – Service Nation is without a doubt the best spin on slavery since William Gilmore Simms wrote The Sword and the Distaff. But I don’t want to take the comparison between national service and chattel slavery too far. After all, being forced to spend a year of one’s life working for FEMA does not begin to match the horror of being forced to spend one’s entire life as another person’s property. Nevertheless, what is being proposed is nothing short of involuntary servitude which, despite ANSA’s ridiculous claim to the contrary, is patently unconstitutional. The text of the Thirteenth Amendment is quite clear:
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
Sadly, the Constitution doesn’t mean much these days, and ANSA provides yet another example of how diligently some people will work to destroy liberty – not only for themselves, but also for the rest of us. One might have thought that the concept of involuntary servitude had been thoroughly demolished by more enlightened thinking, but bad ideas seem to be much more resilient than good ones. If ANSA’s push for national service fails, perhaps they can work to reinstate some of the other horrible ideas that have been abandoned by history. Maybe next time they’ll try to force doctors to prescribe leeches, or bring back the time-honored tradition of burning witches and heretics at the stake. I’m sure they’ll be able to spin it so that Time magazine runs another cover story, this time glorifying the health benefits of a good bleeding and the sense of national purpose that will be achieved by public bonfires of those heretics who dared to suggest that the state exists to serve the individual, and not the other way around.
Something to look forward to, I suppose.
P.S.: In case you’re interested, Service Nation has a number of corporate sponsors, including Time, AARP, Target, Home Depot, and Bank of America.
