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Feudalism: A System of Private Law
- pron 11y agoSure, feudalism is a form of decentralized government, but what lies at its very heart -- the core of feudalism, if you will -- is the ability to own people via obligations they make because they have no choice, and cannot free themselves from. Freedom is a continuum, but only a fool would claim that feudalism brings more freedom to more people than a centralized, democratic government. What is often absent from reactionary accounts of history, is how few in number, how incredibly rare were the people who were able to enjoy those forms of government. The manorial system -- feudalism's economic system -- is mentioned in the article in passing, but it was only made possible by serfdom, a form of slavery. The vast majority of people were serfs -- had to be for feudalism to work -- and they lived on the brink of starvation so that their lord could eat. Feudalism is a rather natural form of organization that arises wherever there's a lack of central governance. In the late 19th century, a form of modern feudalism emerged in the US, under the control of the robber barons. Because of lack of regulation, corporations were able to own people, paying them with non-convertible company currency so that they couldn't leave. It was only when the population cried for freedom, with the help of some pioneering journalists, that the US government stepped in with regulation that freed the people.