(Freedom.news) You may recall from your Western Civilization course in high school or college the concepts of feudalism, serfdom and indebted servitude to the all-powerful ruling elite.

For review, feudalism was the dominant social system of medieval Europe, in which a handful of noble lords held lands deeded to them by the Crown in exchange for military service. Vassals – persons who have entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch – were tenants of the nobles, while the unwashed masses (serfs) were obliged to live on their lord’s land and give him homage, labor and a share of what they produce, in exchange for a little security.

This Europe-based system did not follow the British subjects who first inhabited what would eventually become the United States, but now, some 300 years later, a hybrid form of feudalism is reemerging on our own soil.

A large headline splashed atop The Drudge Report earlier this week makes this point well: “GOVT. COLLECTS RECORD TAXES.” The headline linked to a story by the Washington Free Beacon, which reported that, in the first half of fiscal year 2016 (which began October 1), the Treasury Department collected a record $1.48 trillion in taxes.

This isn’t the first year for record taxation collection in the modern era, either. In October 2014, The Washington Times reported that in FY 2014, the federal government’s take of tax revenue topped $3 trillion for the first time.

A large portion of the new taxes are coming from the massive Obamacare legislation, but as noted by the Free Beacon, all of this additional revenue still isn’t covering government expenses: In the same six-month period, while the government has taken in nearly a trillion-and-a-half dollars, it has spent $461 billion more than it took in.

What’s more, taxation will only grow if either Democratic presidential contender becomes our next president and has enough congressional backing. In a recent interview with editorial staff at the New York Daily News, Clinton confirmed she would raise taxes on Americans by $1 trillion over the next decade. Americans for Tax Reform has all the details here; when it comes to taxation, Clinton leaves no stone unturned.

Neither does her chief rival, socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. As noted by Forbes, Sanders, if he could manage it politically, would steal an additional $1.5 trillion per year – a 46 percent year-to-year increase in taxation – from the American economy, to feed a bloated, massive U.S. government that is already one of the most inefficient, wasteful institutions on the planet. Even Left-wing Fox News political analyst Juan Williams says Sanders’ plan is too much and that not even tax-and-spend Democrats in Congress, or enough of them anyway, would go along with such massive theft.

Already, Americans work 114 days of the year – or roughly one-third of each year – just to pay their tax burden. According to the Tax Foundation, here are some additional startling facts:

— Americans will pay $3.3 trillion in federal taxes and $1.6 trillion in state and local taxes, for a total bill of almost $5.0 trillion, or 31 percent of the nation’s income;

— Americans will collectively spend more on taxes in 2016 than they will on food, clothing, and housing combined;

— If you include annual federal borrowing, which represents future taxes owed, Tax Freedom Day would occur 16 days later, on May 10 [instead of April 24 this year].

Most reasonable Americans understand that some level of taxation is necessary to fund the essential functions of government. But what used to be considered “essential functions of government” as outlined in the Constitution, has, over the course of a century, been transformed by successive presidents and congresses into a massive, all-encompassing beast with an insatiable appetite for our earnings. That is evidenced by the fact that despite record tax receipts, the government continues to pile up debt, which now exceeds $19 trillion.

And that debt will have to be “serviced,” of course – which means the earnings of we the people will have to increasingly be relied upon to feed this voracious monster. The problem is, the more of our earnings Uncle Sam takes, the less there is for us. And the less freedom we have.

American liberty, ingenuity and individualism are what built our nation into an economic powerhouse. But we’re losing ground every year to a growing feudal system where too many of us are little more than serfs toiling away at a job so we can give a portion of it to a distant lord in exchange for our existence.

There has never been a more urgent time for shrinking the size, scope and power of the federal government than now.

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