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Modern liberalism would have you believe that it has been built on a foundation of equality that brings dignity to every citizen. In reality, its foundation it built on hypocrisy more than anything. No more is this more apparent than in the liberal mecca of California. In the wake of a presidential election where the Golden State has maintained itself as a permanently blue stronghold, its outrage against the election of Donald Trump has become nothing more than another example of the hypocritical elitist attitude of the Democratic Party. While Californians look down at the states that voted for Trump as some sort of backward civilization that embodies the threat to Americans' freedoms, those same voters literally voted to keep slavery legal in the slate.
While the idea that slavery is still legal immediately sounds contrary to popular belief, it very much is the case. The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution did not abolish slavery. Instead, it ended chattel slavery or private slave owners. Under the literal text of the amendment, slavery is still legal as a criminal punishment. In other words, slavery is legal as long as the slave master is the state.
State sanctioned slavery is well-documented in history as well as the modern liberal discourse which highlights the Jim Crowe Era ironically led by Democrats in its trite discourse on institutional injustice. Although Jim Crowe has come and gone, forced labor as criminal punishment still remains. California is one of 16 states that currently allows force prison labor. Although California does pay its prisoners between $0/08 - $0.37 an hour, 7 of those 16 states do not pay prisoners anything at all. California Proposition 6, popularly known at the 'End Slavery Act' seeks to amend the California Constitution to remove an existing provision that allows jails an prisons to force the incarcerated to work.
Instead of forcing the incarcerated to work, the California Department Of Corrections And Rehabilitation would be required to award work credits. Prisoners would still be able to be put to work but would have to consent to taking assignments. The proposition also bans the state from disciplining prisoners who refuse to take a work assignment.
In a result that epitomizes the superficial and disingenuous nature of the liberal California body politic, passage of Proposition 6 currently trails by 54.% to 45.1% or 5,136,200 votes against ending state-sanctioned slavery in the state to 4,221,825 votes in favor of doing so. Although only 53% of the estimated votes on Proposition 6 have been counted at the time of writing of this article, more Californians have voted in favor of keeping state-sanctioned slavery legal than voted for Donald Trump. With 55% of total votes in the 2024 Presidential Election counted in the Golden State, 4,022,884 voters in California voted for Trump compared to the 5,136,200 votes against ending state-sanctioned slavery.
Opponents of the proposition have campaigned on how ending forced prison labor could cost the state $1.5 billion annually if it were required to pay prisoners minimum wage. Proponents point to that figure as evidence of the magnitude of the exploitation of California's state-sanctioned slavery. That financial consideration was the key factor determining why state lawmakers voted against a similar measure brought to the California Senate in 2022.
With 47% of the remaining ballots yet to be counted, there still remains a possibility that Proposition 6 will pass. Regardless of the outcome, voters in California have made it clear that they believe state-sanctioned slavery is less of a thread to freedom than Donald Trump. The current status of Proposition 6 is a perfect illustration of how deeply misguided the modern liberal agenda is and how its self-avowed commitment to fighting for freedom is nothing more than demagogic lip service to a voting base whose sense of superiority demonstrates how its hubris has led to its downfall.
