Reckless Reparations Reckoning

American Greatness ^ | 22 Jan, 2023 | Victor Davis Hanson

[MtnClimber]

The lesson from the $22 trillion record of Great Society compensatory payouts is that massive infusions of federal money are more apt to ensure social disruption and dislocation than alleviate them.

The last time racial reparations made the major news was on the eve of September 11, 2001 attacks. The loss of 3,000 Americans, which for a time fueled a new national unity, quickly dispelled the absurdities of the reparation movement, and turned our attention toward more existential issues.

Now the idea is back in vogue again. Here are 10 reasons why the nation’s—and especially California’s—discussions of reparatory payouts are dangerous in a multiracial state, and why reparations are not viable either in an insolvent state or a bankrupt nation at large.

1) Identity Politics Absurdities

We live in an absurd woke age of retribalization. It has witnessed Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), for mutual advantage, advertised as Harvard’s first Native-American law professor.

Fellow Montecito mansion denizens Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and multibillionaire Oprah Winfrey swap ridiculous televised stories of their own racial victimization.

“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett initially was canonized by our top elected leaders and exempted for months by Chicago legal authorities after claiming the following absurdity: two white, MAGA-hatted racists, on their apparently routine nightly racist patrols in a liberal Chicago neighborhood and equipped both with special bleach that does not freeze in subzero temperatures and an ever-ready, just-in-case noose, assaulted Jussie. They put a rope around his neck and libeled his predominately black “Empire” soap-opera show—only to be repulsed single-footedly by a courageous Smollett, while retaining in one hand his cell phone and in the other his late night Subway sandwich.

Note that in these nutty cases and thousands like them, there is the cynical assumption that current American society, and the government as well

[MtnClimber]

How many would move to California and identify as black for a $5M payday?

[MtnClimber]

VDH ping

[CopperTop]

"..How many would move to California and identify as black for a $5M payday?.."

Heyyyyy.. Are ya saying there may be an upside to this? d;^)

[EEGator]

I used to play basketball and know some 1990’s rap lyrics.
Can I get some coin?…

[mewzilla]

They’ll never see it.

Deep State will not ever pay out.

All this talk of reparations is just Deep State playing divide and conquer, pitting us against one another.

We bleeping have to stop taking the bait.

[2nd Amendment]

I think all liberal democratic plantation blacks should get at least 5 million and conservative hard working people who happen to have black melanin should get nothing!

[Sgt_Schultze]

Pretty certainly the one-drop principle would require a DNA test certification.

[eyeamok]

since they want to give reparations to “descendants” of Slaves, shouldn’t “descendants” of the Confederate Party be the ones to PAY?? In Other words Registered DEMONRATS.

[FreedomPoster]

Fred Reed on the topic of reparations.

Are White Men Gods? (II): Getting the Facts Straight
https://web.archive.org/web/20170209104939/http://fredoneverything.org/are-white-men-gods-ii-getting-the-facts-straight/

[PerConPat]

In this context, new calls arise for ludicrous reparations simply because we have become a ludicrous society.

And as history teaches, the more ludicrous a society becomes; the more violent and calamitous will be the correction. The productive elements of society can be very explosive when progressivism's existential threat to their well-being finally dawns on them.

[sten]

any state doing such a thing MUST be cut off from the federal teat or those reparation payments will be paid by ALL states via federal payouts to the state

[River Hawk]

This reparations idea has been moving into the mainstream and is getting more and more support. How long until Republicans are supporting it?

[Verginius Rufus]

A lot of people may have an ancestor who served in the Confederate States military but not know it--will it be obligatory for all whites to do their genealogy or be able to show that all of their ancestors came to the US after 1865?

What about people who had ancestors on both sides? Does a Union soldier ancestor cancel out a Confederate ancestor?

[River Hawk]

It’s not going to be like that. All whites are going to pay, regardless of what their ancestors did. There’s even been a proposal to include the families of recent black immigrants to the United States as recipients.

[libertylover]

In sum, it would be hard to imagine a more volatile idea than racial reparations

It makes me feel a little smarter when I know my thoughts agree with Victor Davis Hanson. As I've been saying for years, if you really want another Civil War, then trying to make people who never owned slaves pay money to people who have never been slaves may be the fastest way to get there.

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

Money isn’t enough for what slaves went through.

They need slaves!.

Here’s the plan, just cane up with it on the toilet so you know it’s an epiphony worth listening to:

Every ex-slave gets 19 slaves and five abandoned city blocks. First their slaves will destroy the rotted buildings then build greenhouses to create green food. The slaves will be Environmentalists who love to dscream and shske....whst better for soil tilling. They need direction and something to do.

Any ex-slaves around?

[Clarancebeaks]

It may become obligatory, you know how much our benevolent government would like to have a sample of everyones DNA.

[Clutch Martin]

IF reparations were to go out and it was 5 mil... you would see a huge spike in crime by those who didn’t qualify for whatever reason.

[CommerceComet]

I’m sure that the 65,000 new employees at the IRS will ultimately be involved with a federal-level reparations program.