Posted on 08/17/2004 5:58:48 AM PDT by Aquinasfan
One day after their first meeting, U.S. Senate hopefuls Barack Obama and Alan Keyes were back on the campaign trail again Monday.
Speaking at a news conference at the Hotel InterContinental in Chicago, Republican Keyes added to his now familiar talking points his stance on slavery reparations.
Prompted by a reporter's question, Keyes gave a brief tutorial on Roman history and said that in regard to reparations for slavery, the U.S. should do what the Romans did: "When a city had been devastated [in the Roman empire], for a certain length of time--a generation or two--they exempted the damaged city from taxation."
Keyes proposed that for a generation or two, African-Americans of slave heritage should be exempted from federal taxes--federal because slavery "was an egregious failure on the part of the federal establishment." In calling for the tax relief, Keyes appeared to be reaching out to capture the black vote, something that may prove difficult to do, particularly after his unwelcome reception at the Bud Billiken Day Parade Saturday...
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
bttt
So is any tax on income. Pick your poison. I'm telling you people, Keyes is using this "divisive" approach for a reason--it highlights injustice.
What if we passed a law that only black embryonic stem cells could be destroyed for research?
What if only black women could have abortions?
What if gun control only applied to the black community?
None of these statements conflict with the effect of today's (liberal) reality but it does put things in a different light, no?
I respect Keyes a lot but he should not have accepted a nomination toa state he does not live in. This is a farce and a good man is being misused by the GOP.
Obama - "I'm glad my opponent understands and agrees with the justice of and need for reparations to the black community. However, I find his proposal is not feasible, however, let's look at the plan proposed by Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Kwezi Mfumi..."
Keyes just squeezed a tube of toothpaste all over the counter and it ain't going back in the tube anytime soon..
I have no problem with Michael Jordan keeping the money he earns. Tax what he spends his wealth on. He'll still be giving more of his cash to the government than any of us.
No, I'm insulted by it and Keyes giving it legitimacy is the dumbest thing I've seen him do.
Fine. Just give me the same deal.
The great society was a handout, not a tax break. You guys are forgetting that Keyes wants to throw virtually every federal program out the window.
Have you read his reasons for accepting this nomination? U.S. Senate candidacy announcement for Illinois
"And on those occasions, I listened, as I always try to do, politely, and I told them no.And I told them no for a number of reasons. First, as I will talk to you about, because I actually have a clear and serious objection, in principle, to the notion that people of national reputation have the right to go around this country, cherry-picking the states as platforms for their ambition. I do. I have said it repeatedly, it's not a good thing to be done.
I'm a strong believer in state sovereignty and in the rights of the people of the states."
I think that Keyes is being pretty slick with this proposal. First, he wants to inspire some original thinking among the followers of the civil rights movement. Second, he wants to demonstrate that the people doing the most b*tching about slave reparations really have no idea what they are talking about, because when they total up the tax break it will be a net loss (not EITC). Finally, the size of the total size of the tax break would be small since lower income people pay little in the way of federal taxes to begin with.
This whole exercise is a sub rosa economics lesson disguised as a moral argument.
This is interesting. Very interesting, and clever. I'm not so sure he hasn't out-clevered himself on this suggestion, though. The pro-reparations crowd won't be satisfied with this (they want nothing less than Uncle Sugar crawling, begging on his hands and knees for forgiveness, with a huge check) and a lot of Keyes supporters will be turned off by it.
Still, it's a very interesting idea. Impractical as hell, but with some pretty fascinating ramifications. (And a GREAT debate here on this thread. Threads like this are the best reason to join FR!)
}:-)4
I hope so.
Why should you be insulted? How is even discussing reparations an insult? I find the knee jerk reactions more insulting rather than a discussion, for and against reparations in a rational manner. Obama has discussed reparations before, and Keyes is just countering him and all of the freepers getting angry fell for the liberal kool aid.
I'd like to see another source.
Of course, you give anything to live under that kind of system because you could control how much you are taxed. That's why it will be so funny when the black political class rejects this idea in favor of welfare and section 8 housing.
Baloney. Keyes is still in the hole several hundred thousand dollars from his last campaign (someone told me there is a lien on his home, don't know if this is true). IMHO, the GOP told Keyes to go up to Illinois, make Obama squirm some, and he could use some of the donations collected on this faux campaign to pay off all his old campaign debts. Strictly a quid pro quo.
Yea, but my family had 50! I want my tax relief! (WHINE):)
bttt
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