We're told by the left that our history of slavery is America's original sin.  They insist that since some of our founders failed to honor the God-given rights of all humans, our founding principles are flawed, and America remains unsalvageable.  So why is the left demanding a headlong rush back to slavery — this time administered by state rather than plantation masters?

Just days before the election of 2008, Barack Obama declared, "We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America."

He didn't promise to heal, tweak, or improve America.  He promised to "fundamentally transform" America.  That is precisely what the radicals have been working toward — using woke ideology to accomplish it.

"Woke" originally was used to indicate an awareness of racial injustice.  However, it has expanded to include all elements of social injustice — as defined by the self-proclaimed social justice warriors.  According to the woke, all the injustices are "systemic."  The rich are more successful than the poor not because they worked harder and made better decisions.  It's because the system is unjust.  We're told that America is plagued with systemic racism.  It's not that there are evil people among us; it's that the system is unjust.  The system needs to be transformed — to achieve social justice.

The social justice of "woke" has expanded to include:

• climate justice,
• minority justice,
• sexual justice,
• gender justice (not the same as sexual justice),
• economic justice, and
• moral justice (i.e., moral relativism).

Woke ideology demands human behavior consistent with the demands of social justice across all elements of society.  It requires top-down control of all Americans — down to our very beliefs and behaviors.  That would indeed be "fundamental transformation."

But "fundamentally transform" America into what?  America was founded as a self-governed country, based on individual rights and respecting private property (capitalism).  A fundamental change to that foundation would be centrally governed, based on communal rights and public control of property.

Our three-year COVID nightmare gave us a glimpse of what a fundamentally transformed America would be.  Pandemic protocols gave us a taste of our future if our current flirtation with socialism/communism is not arrested.

The commune (the state) determined who could work and when.  Those deemed "essential" were allowed to continue working.  Others were denied employment.

The commune dictated what people could and could not do with their own property.  Property owners were denied access to their land and possessions.  Landlords were prohibited from collecting rent on their properties.  Small businesses were shuttered while their mega-corporation competition was allowed to thrive.

Individual rights were canceled for the health of the commune.  Freedom of speech, religion, and association were all denied to supposedly prevent the spread of a virus.  Curfews were declared, because apparently the virus was most contagious at night.  Even the right to make our own medical decisions was suspended for the welfare of the collective.

Does anyone doubt that something resembling the pandemic protocols is what the radicals want for America — permanently?  If so, explain recent history.

The Biden administration continues to work toward censoring free speech.  He proposed a Disinformation Governance Board, and his various agencies are currently working to stifle dissenting speech.

Freedom of religion is under attack as pro-life activities are criminalized, and Catholics are surveilled in a search of nonexistent right-wing domestic terrorists.

The government has even expressed a desire to control the means of generating wealth.  The Affordable Care Act placed one seventh of our gross domestic product under the control of the government.  Barack Obama proposed nationalizing pension plans.  Elizabeth Warren proposed nationalizing all large American businesses.  Joe Biden threatened to impose emergency powers on the energy sector — to control gas prices.  Biden has even promised to regulate other industries out of existence — starting with those with an insufficient commitment to ESG.  The government wants to control where we can and will work.

Once the government controls where we can work, it will also control how much we make.  Demands for regulation of a "livable wage" sound attractive.  But it is the government determining what our work is worth — defining what we need to live.

When Barack Obama said, "There's only so much you can eat.  There's only so big a house you can have.  There's only so many nice trips you can take.  I mean, it's enough," he was saying that he, as the president of the United States, knows what our needs are.

Does any of that sound familiar?  Doesn't it sound alarmingly like work according to one's ability (as the state allows) and receive according to one's need (as the leadership determines)?

"Fundamental transformation" would mean abandoning capitalism — where one contributes as he wishes and receives what he earns.  It would mean the acceptance of a system where one contributes as the collective needs and receives as the collective allows.  The radicals may use any number of names for it, but they are seeking to "fundamentally transform" America into a communist utopia.

As with any home improvement project, there must be demolition before the remodel can begin.  That systemically unjust system must be destroyed with a sledgehammer before the new socially just system is constructed.  The demolition is always messy.

Moves to decriminalize anti-social behavior and undermine law enforcement are triggering rampant crime, violence, and misery.  Eventually, social order will be destroyed, and Americans will demand a restoration of order.

Uncontrolled spending and inflation will eventually destroy individual wealth. After the collapse, Americans will hunger for a means to survive.

Cancelation, censorship, political correctness, and demonization of dissent are preparing us for life without individual rights.

Election fraud, court-packing, weaponized criminal justice, and abandonment of traditions of political discourse will eliminate political alternatives — leaving one-party rule.

The demolition before the remodel will destroy prosperity, morality, self-governance, and any semblance of God-given rights.  The radicals will then offer solutions — which will all entail collectivism and the empowerment of the state.  Then America will have been "fundamentally transformed."

The woke are demanding that we abandon our individual liberties for the social justice needs of the collective.  To avoid persecution, we may not express dissenting views or worship any god above the state.  We will work for only for ESG-approved companies.  We will be allowed to keep only that compensation that isn't needed to maintain the collective.  What's it called when a person's freedom is taken and he is placed in the service of another?  Slavery.

John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho.  He has written for American Thinker and American Free News Network.  He can be reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.

Image via Negative Space.