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Sold Down the River

Notes to my Grandchildren (a series)

“Grandpa, what does it mean, ‘To be sold down the river’?”

We’ve heard this phrase all our lives, and we all know it means something negative, but few of us realize where it comes from.  When my own granddaughter asked it, I was reminded again that knowledge is not cumulative — it has to be passed on, or it’s lost 1

In the English language, you have some phrases which go back into antiquity, while others are unique to the American experience.  This one is purely American, and yet folks around the world know that it has a negative connotation.

In the 19th Century, when slavery was legal in this country, this phrase was well-known, particularly in the Slave States, as it originated in Kentucky and Maryland and most particularly in Missouri.  The further south one went, the stronger was the institution of slavery, and the harsher the implementation of the laws.  Furthermore, one of the largest markets for slaves was in New Orleans, and this is a phrase used most commonly on the Mississippi River.

When a slave proved to be difficult, or “uppity”, the most effective thing a slave owner could say to achieve an attitude adjustment was,  “You keep that up, and I will sell you down the river.”  This phrase literally struck fear in the mind of every slave.

Being sold, anywhere, meant the breaking up of friendships and of family.  But to be sold “down the river” meant that you would go to a distant place about which you knew nothing, and where you could expect the worst.  Children were taught early to behave themselves, that they not be “sold down the river.”  A slave in Kentucky or Missouri knew that conditions were worse in the Deep South, and also that running away to the North was actually something one might be able to do.  But to be sold “down the river” was to abandon all hope.  It was an effective threat for keeping people in line.

You’ll hear this phrase these days, usually in the coffee shop, the barber shop, or sitting on the porch with friends over a holiday weekend, as conversation inevitably moves around to politics, to the economy, and to the decline of every standard we know.  People are beginning to realize that our Republic didn’t just get sick one day and decide to die.  We all know things are wrong in this country, and that the country is “going South” — another phrase we hear more and more.

To be sold down the river implies that there has been a seller and a buyer.  So the first questions are always, “Who dunnit?”  And, “How much?”  The answer is not a simple one, but I’ll try anyway, for the sake of my grandchildren.  (I’ve given up on educating my neighbors, but I still care about my grandchildren, and hope that they will someday care what I thought, and whether my generation gave any thought to what was happening, back in the days when freedom was eroding.)  Unlike in the capturing and selling of slaves, our loss of freedom has been a process, rather than a single event.

Back to the original question of what this phrase means, upon reflection, one realizes that a slave was not sold just “out of the blue” — there was always a reason.  One doesn’t sell their property without a reason.  Sometimes it was a matter of getting rid of a problem, but just as often it was a matter of economics.  Maybe the slave in question had come of age, or had a skill that would fetch a good price, and the owner needed the money to pay taxes, or whatever.  Many owners considered it “nothing personal” when economic necessity made it necessary to sell a slave, but it’s not likely that a single slave ever looked at it that way.

Similarly, in a process that began shortly after the country was established and declared free, those who have sold our country down the river have rarely intended to do more than to gain some economic advantage for themselves, or for someone else.  Politicians have sold off small bits of our freedom, piecemeal, almost from the very beginning, but we had so much of it that it was never worth another revolution.  In fact, in the early decades it was generally an option to move further west, rather than fight over regulations and taxes and government control of business and life in general.  This is why the Eastern States are much more regulated, to this day, than the Western States (with the exception of California, populated by Easterners in the mass migration of the Fifties.)

The earliest Americans understood that to be in debt was to be in bondage.  They regarded debt precisely as wild animals regard fences, and they behaved accordingly.  They scorned the man who borrowed himself into poverty, and used him as an example to their children.  Indeed, they all knew the verse in the Bible which says, “The borrower is a slave to the lender.”

So…, “who dunnit?”  The question may be better answered with another question:  “When a prostitute makes an offer to a man, who is at fault when he breaks the covenant with his wife in exchange for a few moments of stolen pleasure?”  Is the prostitute at fault?  Absolutely!  Fault is a lifestyle with her.  But, like all business ventures, the customer drives every transaction.

When Congress votes to provide assistance for an individual or an entire group of people, using money extracted from the taxpayers by force, then you have a similar situation.  Of course there is an economic benefit for those who get the cash, the protection, the privileged status.  Seems perfectly fine to them, and it’s surely “nothing personal” that the money isn’t earned by them.  “After all,” they reason, “It’s only fair that rich people pay more — they gots more to share!”  The Taxpayer, having just been sold down the river, in another small increment, may take it personal, but hey, there’s plenty more left over, and we still live in “the freest country on earth.”

When any level of government takes away freedom from some, in order to give some economic benefit to others, a form of theft has taken place, however legal it may be.  The theft is usually economic, but more importantly, it’s the theft of a measure of freedom.

When a farmer accepts a government cheque to not produce a given product, or to produce it at a subsidized price, that farmer has just stolen that many dollars from the collective pockets of all of us.

When a city council writes up a grant proposal to the State or Federal governments, they are taking money that is not theirs in order to give something they think is “free” to the community.  It is not free.  It is taken from someone else, by force, in order for us to have playground equipment in our city park, for example.  It’s nothing personal — we’re just looking for an economic benefit.  No one intends any treason here.

When an unwed mother applies for welfare, she is trading her freedom for a form of bondage — handouts which make her more dependent, not more independent.

When voters elect politicians who promise more benefits, they are voting for incremental slavery for all of us.

When debt (bondage) is touted as a virtue, then virtue ceases to exist.  When the majority of a society enters into bondage, then they have sold themselves down the river.

When a person goes to college in order to get a government job, it means that government has become the Provider and the People have become the Dependents.  I was told just last week by a waitress, “I’m majoring in social work.  I know it’s not a big salary, but the benefits are great, and I want them benefits!”  It does not occur to her that she is taking my hard-earned money in order have those “benefits.”  But, if it did, I’m doubt she would care.  After all, I need to pay “my fair share.”

When people strive to get on disability or unemployment in order to get an economic benefit that they have not earned, they like to tell themselves that they paid in taxes, so it’s their own money.  No, it’s theft.  And they are trading their birthright of Liberty, in small increments, in exchange for the metaphorical “Porridge” of economic security.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying, “A people who will trade their freedom for security are deserving of neither.”

Alexis de Toqueville said, “Democracy will work until the people come to realize that they can vote money out of the public largesse into their own pockets.”  That’s where we are today.  The less productive masses have figured out how to plunder the more productive segments of society.

Why do I feel like I’ve been sold down the river?

And who dunnit?

I came across this in an on-line book just last week:

“In the US, one percent of the population pays a third of all the taxes, the top ten percent of wage earners, pay well over half of all taxes, and the top quarter pay eighty-five percent of the taxes. The bottom fifty percent are all it takes to vote for this legal robbery; they pay less than five percent of total taxes. For the majority of taxpayers, social security rivals income tax in amount, and the amount that shows on their paycheck stubs is only half of what they pay. The government correctly assumes they will be ignorant enough not to know that this is only half of what they lose. If the average worker today were to take his social security tax and invest it at a nominal rate of interest for forty years, he would have well over a million dollars, and could expect to draw close to a hundred thousand dollars a year, without ever touching his million plus.”2

The answer is that “Democracy dunnit!”  (Democracy is the inevitable enemy of any constitutional Republic.)  We have become a nation of Takers.  We produce less than we consume.  We are in debt up to our eyeballs, both on a personal level and on a national level.  A society that has grown soft and lazy and dependent on others cannot recover.  We can complain all we like about losing our status on the Plantation, but we have brought it on ourselves.

One may well argue to the Missouri slave, “You have done this to yourself.  Your actions and attitude leave me no choice but to sell you down the river.”

Go look in the mirror, and if you take any source of income from anyone, that you don’t pay for, then you are looking at one of the Sellers of this Nation.

When our grandchildren look back on this time, they probably won’t know the taste of freedom we had, but perhaps they’ll be secure in their bondage.

There is, however, hope.   I have little hope that this nation can reverse its course and become a free nation, but individuals can.  Just as a significant number of black slaved before the War of Southern Independence were able to save and purchase their own freedom, 3Americans of all races can do the same today, on an individual and family basis, and with hard work may yet become much more free than most, whether they stay in this country or choose to leave for greener pastures.4

It begins by adhering to a moral standard that is higher than the society around us, and by getting out of debt and staying out of debt.  It begins with a vision of being Free, and figuring out how to do that in a world that does not want us to be free.  It means that we build up strong families, financially and in other ways, who are not vulnerable to being “sold down the river” any more.

1 “Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it.”

2 The Place to Stand, by Soverindi.  No date given.  An e-book found at www.soverindi.com.

3 William Ellison, of South Carolina, for example, not only became a free man, but started a business that eventually owned more slaves than any white slave owner in the state!

4 That concept should not shock us.  Why else did our ancestors migrate to the American colonies, except to be free, to hold land without servitude to large land-owners, and to pursue their dreams without government interference or never-ending wars (in which the common man had no interest, no say)?  They came to be free, and they left families behind, never to be seen again, to pursue that dream in a foreign land, where life was very, very different.  If they were here today, many of them would be helping us pack our bags!

 

© Daniel D. New, Permission to copy, with credits, is hereby granted.-

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