In his book Our Threatened Freedom: A Christian View on the Menace of American Statism, R.J. Rushdoony referenced an essay by the 19th-century philosopher and sociologist Herbert Spencer titled “The Coming Slavery.” Spencer warned of the rise of a new, more insidious form of enslavement, distinct from the traditional slavery where individuals were owned by others. This emerging slavery, he argued, would be far worse—the state’s ownership of the people.
Rushdoony writes: The roots of this new slavery, Spencer said, would lie in a supposedly humane belief. He observed that even churches were succumbing to and promoting this dangerous idea. As Spencer put it, “The current assumption is that there should be no suffering and that society is to blame for that which exists.” This malignant and deadly belief, Rushdoony explains, has two critical aspects.
First, the notion that there should be no suffering rejects the necessity of growth or the consequences of sins and mistakes. Parents often fall into this trap, shielding their children from the hardships they endured, only to hinder their children’s character development. When applied to society, this principle fosters social anarchy.
Second, the belief that society is responsible for all suffering shifts accountability away from the individual. Responsibility and character, however, are fundamentally personal. Denying this undermines both law and civilization.
When we adopt these flawed assumptions—that suffering should not exist and that society is at fault—we prioritize regulating society over cultivating individual character, knowledge, and abilities. Spencer predicted that such regulations would lead to more regulations and, ultimately, mass enslavement. People become, in effect, prisoners of the state. In this slave society, the solution to every problem becomes more regulations—or more slavery. Those resisting this loss of freedom eventually surrender, joining the ranks of the enslaved, resulting in a revolution into slavery. As Spencer noted:
“To one who doubts whether such a revolution may be so reached, facts may be cited showing its likelihood. In Gaul, during the decline of the Roman Empire, ‘so numerous were the receivers in comparison with the payers, and so enormous the weight of taxation, that the labourers broke down, the plains became deserts, and wood grew where the plough had been.’ In like manner, when the French Revolution was approaching, the public burdens had become such, that many farms remained uncultivated and many were deserted: one quarter of the soil was absolutely lying waste; and in some provinces one-half was in health.”
Spencer’s prediction, Rushdoony asserts, has proven accurate—we are indeed sliding into this new slavery. Yet, he emphasizes that responsibility remains personal, and we are not powerless pawns. The time has come, he urges, to reclaim our freedom.
