Employment Is Nothing Like Slavery

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Employment Is Nothing Like Slavery

OCTOBER 21, 2015 Julian Adorney

 

What is necessary to take away a man’s freedom? For many progressives, nothing more then a bad workplace. Amazon takes ongoing heat for its work environment, with opponents likeBusiness Insider calling it a “slave camp.”

 

But this comparison mistakes the fundamental nature of coercion.

 

Many leftists, such as left-libertarian Susan Webber at Naked Capitalism, argue that we must work in order to live, and that therefore work is coercive. If you must do X to live, then surely whoever controls your ability to do X is coercing you.

 

The problem with this argument is that the state of nature is not a Rousseauian paradise, but a brutal place where most die. The state of nature involves poverty and endless drudgery to catch, kill, and cook whatever food one can to stay alive. The workday is every waking moment, and the pay is little more than an occasional meal.