Involuntary servitude is the term for a person laboring against the person's free will, under some form of coercion. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution makes involuntary servitude illegal under any US jurisdiction whether at the hands of the US government or in the private sphere, except as a punishment for crime.
servitude /s'ɜːʳvɪtjuːd/ /-tuːd/ US
Synonyms:
- noun: slavery, thraldom, thrall, enslavement, serfdom, servility, serfage
Servitude is the condition of being a slave or of being completely under the control of someone else.
Now, let's consider this interesting piece from Obama's website itself:
President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps.
Obama and Biden will call on citizens of all ages to serve. They'll set a goal that all middle school and high school students engage in 50 hours of community service a year, and develop a plan for all college students who engage in 100 hours of community service...
Source: http://change.gov/americaserves/
First of all, in the URL itself "America Serves" - America is not serving anyone. It is a collection of good people striving for the common benefit, mostly. Whatever good comes out of the nation, it is for themselves to enjoy, so it's up to them to decide what they want to do.
Second, notice the keywords "call on...to serve". Why is Obama and company going to call on anyone? All depends on how the people will be called upon, as it is entirely unconstitutional to forcefully make people perform so-called 'duties' of citizenship. The government will be forcing the students to do service? Is that not involuntary servitude? Click here to view the 13th amendment to the American Constitution.
Thirdly, why should the government make a plan of how Americans get to "contribute" to the nation? Again, this is in direct violation of civil liberties.
Isn't it great that a guy whose ancestors were forced into slavery for hundreds of years is now advocating his belief that students should work against their will because the government says so?
Public volunteer service is one thing - forced "volunteering" is something totally different.
The way I see it, there is a very fine thread between involuntary servitude and civic duty. In fact, there is none, the difference lies in the eyes of the person's perception. Now say a person A might think of obeying the traffic laws of the land as an immoral servitude imposed upon him (we see this A so many times on Delhi roads!), while B says including community work in high school and college curriculum is an even better way of imparting the right education and values to a growing person. This is obviously, just my opinion.
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