The problem with slavery isn't so much the particular conditions but the lack of freedom. Even the best cared for slave isn't a human being because human beings are granted choices, and by definition a slave can only do what someone else chooses for him.
In my opinion, slavery is okay as a temporary condition for punishment, but that's it.
But now if you want to twist it a little more, I don't want to go on welfare. ie - will not accept handout of any kind. I have no choice but to work for currency in order to provide housing and food etc. for myself and my family. granted I could try to live out where the busses don't run and grow my own food and build my house, but I still have to buy the land and pay property taxes. At some point I am forced to submit to someone else do their bidding in exchange for money. In modern day most of us are slave to one corporation or another.
Master Card or Visa already owns most Americans.
Sounds a lot like Soviet-style communism, too. Could it be that, unless you're at least somewhat well-to-do, that for all practical purposes it's basically the same shit? I mean, in our economic system the ruling classes have the illusion of hope to dangle before our eyes, and that keeps the working stiffs in order, but otherwise what's the difference?
What is the difference between being a slave and being a poor person with no chance of economic advancement? The slave knows where his next meal is coming from.
Slavery based on race is obviously wrong, history has proven that. But slavery based on other things, such as defeat in warfare, does not strike me as "morally wrong." Not very nice, but not immoral. It beats Abu Garhib.
By the same token, how about conscription? Then you're a slave to the government, doing work that's way more dangerous than the work a "traditional" slave would be doing.
The best example of what would be acceptable slavery comes from Roman times: When the Romans conquered a territory, the conquered citizens were not Roman citizens, and thus had no rights: basically, slaves. The Romans then made them an offer: join the army, and gain Roman citizenship. The most brilliant military idea in history. How do you think the Romans conquered half the world?
This makes me think of that famous psychology experiment where certain groups were split up and one part were designated "slaves" and the other "masters." The experiment was basically that the masters could make the slaves do as they wanted. Anyway, as the experiment drew on, the masters became more abusive and less humane.
The Stanford Prison Experiment discussed in 'Blink' by Malcolm Gladwell.
It was very... Interesting...
http://www.prisonexp.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment
“Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”
-My dear buddy, Pat Robertson