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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fusangite" data-source="post: 2049545" data-attributes="member: 7240">Ormiss,Vassalage is being a subordinate or dependent of a person. This does not exist in the modern state. You cannot be a vassal to an abstract state structure, only to an individual. Modern scholars of the Middle Ages no longer use the term "feudalism" to refer to medieval social structures. Instead, the use the term "vassalage." A system in which individuals are subordinate to one another is one in which social inequality is a condition necessary for the structure itself to exist. A system in which all individuals are equally subordinate to the state is one in which social equality is assumed to be the natural condition. Therefore, to suggest that the modern state is a form of vassalage is incorrect. When George Bush becomes president, people do not become subordinate to him personally; they pledge allegiance to the flag not to George W Bush. The reason we pledge allegiance to states and their symbols rather than to individuals is because modern social contracts are specifically designed to prevent vassalage. The founding fathers of the United States created a state structure that would prevent legal subordination of individuals to other individuals. Ben Franklin and company would roll over in their graves if they heard you arguing that equality under the law and vassalage were indistinguishable.</blockquote>