Are you a domestic terrorist?

[kandrathe]

But the IT world isn't the whole world. And unemployment isn't the only alternative. There are nationwide shortages of teachers and nurses. There are other fields that need people.

Right. It's perhaps the jaded viewpoint I have. Perhaps teachers and nurses have a much less repressive work environment.

If you cannot afford to retrain, it is not the corporate world that put you in that position, it is the choices you made. If, to be free, you have to have no boss, no supervisor, no one that expects your effort for their money, then you can still move to undeveloped areas and live a pioneer lifestyle, grow and hunt your own food, etc.

I have been VERY tempted to do just that. I grew up on a farm, and I know how to be self sufficient doing it.

If by 'freedom' you mean a total lack of responsibilities, the ability to do whatever you want or even nothing at all, then that condition has never existed and will, probably, never exist. Our earliest ancestors (if our closest relatives are any indication) formed bands with leaders and followers. The leaders were not free, they were constrained by the good of the band, both real and perceived. The followers were not free, they had to cooperate in the band's activities and submit to the will of the leader. "Lead, follow, or get out of the way." Those are the three possible states, the third being 'outcast' and possibly the least free of them all, for the outcast is a slave to nature and has no one to relive him of any part of that slavery.

No. Not a lack of responsibility, or even a lack of social conscience. Here is an example that happened to a friend of mine; He lost his job, and the only way to save his home from foreclosure was to tap his IRA's and 401K's. The government has set up that system so that not only do you pay taxes on that saved income, you also pay an additional 10% penalty to the government. Then, to make matters worse, that money he deducted to pay for his house counted as income so he no longer qualifies for any program to help struggling people in his predicament. I don't call that justice. I'm looking for "us", the little people, to define the system such that we all benefit. I don't care whether the topic is health care, or banking, or savings, or retirement, or inheritance. Unlike Jester, I don't want to drain away wealth from the "us" who are finding a way out of the employment trap. If we agree the government needs tending, then each of us should shoulder an equal burden. If that burden is too big, then we should make it smaller.

As a person of principle, and as one that seems even to put principle above personal well being, your argument that working for someone is the equivalent of slavery seems incongruous. The fundamental difference *is* one of principle. Slavery reduces a human being to an object that can be owned. This was recognized as far back as Cicero ("instrumentum vocale"). The most benevolent treatment of a slave (short of manumission) does not negate this fundamental fact, that a slave is an object, not a person.

Agreed. Although, if you have no choice but to be an employee, then servitude is not your choice. Your choice is in which master you choose to serve. You need to have the means to have excess income (after expenses and taxes) to save up and buy property. I believe that a shrinking number of people own the means of production, and property -- and the next generation will find more servants than owners.

We have options, we have choices. We don't have unlimited license, but we do have a large chunk of freedom. Maybe we should have more, but that is something to work for. But if your idea of freedom is freedom from responsibility to the world, to the nation, to society, then I cannot agree with you. And if you think that those responsibilities will be shouldered by individuals without coercion, then I think you are mistaken. And, with the fragmentation and decline of religion, I cannot think of an organization other than the state who can supply that coercion.

No not freedom from responsibility. Simply put, I want our system to supply and emphasize the freedom to move from poverty class to working class, and from the working class to the owning class. I believe our government should endeavor to make this easier, rather than more difficult. Why do they make it more difficult? My suspicion is that they collude to meet the needs of Corporations for highly skilled cheap labor.