Posted on 08/17/2004 2:38:57 PM PDT by unspun
By The Leader-Chicago Bureau (admin@illinoisleader.com)
CHICAGO -- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes has just released a statement clarifying what appeared to be a surprising position he took at a news conference yesterday.
"I think a cogent argument could be made for reparations in principle," Keyes is quoted as saying to reporters yesterday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The Chicago Tribune expanded:
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."
The response from conservatives was immediate. "Who downstate will now vote for Keyes?" wrote IllinoisLeader.com reader Randall Mead of Springfield today. "I certainly won't."
This afternoon, Keyes released the following statement, clarifying his position:
I have consistently opposed the effort to extort monetary damages from the American people. As I have argued in the past, the great sacrifices involved in the Civil War represented the requital in blood and treasure for the terrible injustices involved in slavery. In this form the so called "reparations" movement represents an insult to the historic commitment that many Americans made to the end of slavery, which included the sacrifice of their lives.I have also consistently maintained that the history of slavery, racial segregation and discrimination did real damage to black Americans, left real and persistent material wounds in need of healing.
In various ways through the generations since the end of slavery, America has tried to address this objective fact, but without real success. This was at least in part the rational for many elements of the Great Society programs of the sixties, and for the original and proper concept of affirmative action developed under Republican leadership during the Nixon years.
Unfortunately, the government-dominated approaches of the Great Society, which purported to heal and repair the legacy of historical damage, actually widened and deepened the wounds. They undermined the moral foundations of the black community and seriously corrupted the family structure and the incentives to work, savings, investment, and business ownership.
The idea I have often put forward to address this challenge involves a traditionally Republican, conservative and market-oriented approach: removing the tax burden from the black community for a generation or two in order to encourage business ownership, create jobs and support the development of strong economic foundations for working families.
This has the advantage of letting people help themselves, rather then pouring money into government bureaucracies that displace and discourage their own efforts. It takes no money from other citizens, while righting the historic imbalance that results from the truth that black slaves toiled for generations at a tax rate that was effectively 100 percent.
I have also made it clear that while I believe that the descendants of slaves would be helped by this period of tax relief, my firm goal and ultimate objective is to replace the income tax, and thereby free all Americans from this insidious form of tax slavery. It is well known that this is one of the key priorities of the Keyes campaign.
In response to Keyes' statement, conservative Jack Roeser of Family Taxpayers Network told IllinoisLeader.com, "I expect Keyes would say this is one of those interesting subjects to be talked about among people sharing ideas. Reparations is an impractical concept. Everybody in every category has been wronged in one or the other, and you cannot single one out."
Roeser continued, "Keyes is a man of ideas, and I expect he gets into discussions like this that are proper in their proper place, but that he would never vote for reparations. The problem with American politics is that people don't get into deep discussions."
© 2004 IllinoisLeader.com -- all rights reserved
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The average black voter is not a sports star. But many are being kept on the Democrat plantation by promises of checks. Tax cuts are a much better, and more conservative, idea.
Who cares?
Blacks alive today were not slaves, and are not harmed by slavery. Period!
Alan should be educating them on the stupidity of reparations instead of giving a tax holiday to Kobe Bryant for the rest of his life!
If implemented, this plan would follow the same path as affirmative action. It would be made into law with assurances that it is only a temporary thing until the ever-lingering effects of slavery are lessened; and 40 years later everyone will still be wondering why blacks are the only ones not paying taxes. What an insanely bad idea----probably the worst possible way to "kick-start" abolition of the federal income tax.
I'm still trying to see how you made the leap of Oprah and Shaq being guaranteed some kind of tax relief. Surely there would be some stipulations for those who managed to make a success of their opportunities.
Can we take this down a notch or two? Alan's in the Arena now maneuvering amongst some issues that were already in motion when the GOP called him in.
Yes, he could have said I am completely against that. But he didn't. Hopefully the voters he's attempting to reach will at least hear him out to explain what and why he believes as he does on reparations.
I think the biggest agenda here now is that Keyes be bloodied enough here on FR that we can't even discuss issues concerning this race.
No, you support whatever Alan Keyes says, no matter how unconservative it is.
This is the most unbelievable discussion I have ever seen on this board.
No, they weren't harmed directly. But to say their families didn't suffer financially seems inaccurate.
And you keep harping on the class warfare thing. I do not harbor any ill will towards wealthy blacks.
That's what's so ridiculous about Keyes' plan. The real poor blacks will not see a dime of the reparations money, because they don't pay taxes anyway. So his plan will reward only those blacks who are already succeeding in the system anyway.
We operate in the real world. Proposal don't become law until they get passed and signed, and given the obstructionist nature of the socialist/democrats, you have to think about how to beat their obstructionist tactics.
I would love nothing more to abolish the income tax tomorrow, but I know it's not going to happen by just proposing it. That's the equivalent of charging headfirst into battle, they don't usually lead to victory.
This is war, war is about deception, adaptation, etc. I would suggest a lot of you go read the Art of War. This is a flanking manuever, and a shrewd one.
Good point.
Al Sharpton, while not as eloquent, would certainly be high-fiving Alan over this!
Al would profit nicely from this extortion.
Um, perhaps I'm going by Keyes' actual words? His reparations plan would only help those who actually pay taxes into the system, so those people are already working. Poor blacks won't be helped, but millionaire blacks will.
Blacks vote for Democrats with or without reparations.
And they'll vote for them even if Alan Keyes ridiculous payoff were a reality.
Since Keyes states that his "ultimate objective is to replace the income tax, and thereby free all Americans from this insidious form of tax slavery."
I think it's eminently reasonable to say that this is indeed in his mind a first step toward further tax relief for all Americans.
Yup. The problem with the Keyes candidacy is the media filter.
But the difference between this race and 2000 is that the media cannot filter the debates. As long as the media spells Alan's name right, they can continue to demonize him, and thereby draw more viewers to the debates. Then people will get the truth.
But remove that emotional baggage. To me this issue is not about "reparations" at all, it's abou tax cuts.
I oppose this idea because because it will further separate blacks from whites. We certainly haven't resolved all of our racial problems yet in this country, but we certainly have made some progress in terms of allowing broader participation in this experiment we've got going here.
We're more than just a country club; we're a nation and I think it's important that all of us feel that we are participating and contributing something. In other words, I'm not as concerned about the resentment that this kind of proposal would engender among taxpayers as I am with the effect that it would likely have on those exempted.
E pluribus unum. ;-)
Are you freeping kidding me? Race-baiting is now some shrewd political tactic? Then Louis Farrakan and Jesse Jackson must be the greatest political minds ever!
All Alan Keyes done is make his RAT opponent look reasonable and moderate by opposing this wacky idea. And you think Keyes is doing a good thing?
That sounds nice, but it's a distortion of the issue. Any sane taxpayer will harbor a healthy resentment of those who are exempted from paying taxes by virtue of their race.
Now that he has some attention, perhaps he could broaden the debate. It likely won't matter, but speaking of debates, I've heard he's advised by the ghost of John Calhoun, and Obamma (sp?) is no Daniel Webster.
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