*SUMER PARTY POLICY ON THE SLAVE QUESTION*
The first thing all must recognize is the hard work and value of slave labor. Slaves form the backbone of Sumerian society, without question. While extremist parties on both sides will rail about how they want to end slavery *now*, or perpetuate slavery *forever,* few talk about the steps we can take, today, to make the system work for *everyone* - slave *and* slaveholder. We believe that by curbing the worst abuses, we can ensure slaves continue to power our economy for the next 1000 years.
Our radical Leftist opponents will no doubt label us a "pro-slavery" party. We prefer to think of ourselves as a "pro-slave" party. Slaves have inherent dignity, like any other human. All lives matter, and certainly, all slaves matter.
Radical, big-city scribes advocate for abolition now. However, they do not speak for us, and do not speak for Sumerian society at large. These scribes have never plowed a field, they've never owned a small metallurgy business, they don't know what it's like to trade copper ingots on the open market. Their brains have been turned to mush from too much reading & writing. Leftist scribes want to base policy on their feelings, but grown-ups look at the bigger picture.
Credible economic surveys show that abolishing slavery will, in the near-term, lead to a threefold rise in the price of wheat, sending 1 out of 3 struggling families into poverty. And that's just one example. Overall, it would be economic chaos. Abolishing slavery simply isn't an agenda for the middle-class. Indeed, our internal polling shows that only 5% of likely voters list slavery as their #1 issue. More pressing issues include the rising cost of goods, and current geopolitical tensions with Elam.
Would abolishing slavery even be good for the slaves? Few bother to ask this question. But per our internal polling, a clear majority of slaves report feelings of anxiety when asked to contemplate a life outside of bondage. In a city-state of our size, that equates to thousands of slaves. I'm not willing to send thousands of lives adrift when we could make the current system work with just a few tweaks.
So, we don't support slavery, per se. However, we firmly support the social hierarchy established by the Gods. We are mere mortals, who are we to question what the Gods ordained? It is a perfect social system - and even if it isn't, we can't afford to alienate our pious voter base.
Vote Sumer Party to keep our economy going strong!
