Comparing the U.S. Government to Pirates Is a Huge Insult to Pirates

“Your Job Has Worse Benefits Than a Pirate Ship”

“We … land on top of it and we took over the ship. We took over the cargo, took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business,” said Trump at a rally in Florida on Friday. “We’re like pirates,” he added to cheers from the crowd.

This is all unfair to pirates as a few quick searches show:

Pirates found a way to reduce conflict among themselves and maximize profits. They used a democratic system, spelled out by written “articles of agreement“, to limit the captain’s power and to keep order on board the ship. The captain was elected by all the men in the crew and could be replaced by a majority vote by the same. Cowardly or brutal captains were quickly voted out of their position.

and…

Pirates did not rob slaves or middle class people. There was no profit from it. They robbed the rich because that was where the money was. Pirate ships followed the trade routes and captured the largest, richest ships they could find.

My friend David Rovics has written at least two songs about the virtues of pirates, one of old and one to the pirates of Somalia.

Then there’s this video — “Your Job Has Worse Benefits Than a Pirate Ship” — which notes the pirate captains only got twice as much as other crew members (I’ve sometimes seen it as only 1.5 times as much.)