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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Are you sure there aren't some bad chemicals in those oysters you eat out of the Bay? LOL. Where is my tax holiday? My ancesters (well the ones on my mother's side; the ones on my dad's side were part of the problem, but hey, our gene pool is a mess), had to inconvenience themselves to help stamp out slavery with hot lead from around 1861 to 1865.
Why are you "ambivalent" to the race card and racial pandering?
This is NOT the kind of thing one talks about,when one want to reach what's left of GOPers in Ill.!
It's now eleven here in NY and I have to say I agree with you DJ.
Not everyone. In fact, I'd say the Keyes fans are the majority.
Uh, the rest of your post is fluff.
You'd give tax breaks to Oprah Winfrey because of her skin color.
That's all I need to know.
I am getting believe that Keyes even bringing this up was a stupid idea.
That means if you don't earn income, you don't get a break. It promotes hard work and deflates welfare.
The "factual possibility possiblity" is that IF this abortion is enacted into law, it WILL apply to "every black person, regardless of skin color or national origin", because if it doesn't, the race baiters will be out in the streets chanting "no justice, no peace", and our elected representatives will cave like a house of cards. (They will have already established that much by having voted in this abortion in the first place.)
I'd defintely vote for Keyes because I'm CERTAIN Obama is worse. I'm very, very likely going to vote for Specter because I'm CERTAIN Hoeffel is worse.
Flame on.
I've explained this,AT LENGTH,to you several times already.I refuse to waste anymore time doing so again,for you to ignore it,yet again.
Anybody speaks long enough in public is going to say something stupid. We have to learn to cut slack & stop eating our own.
NEVER;he doesn't KNOW nor care what the issues are,which concern people in Ill.!
Surely?
Surely you jest.
the idea that this is just a little kickstart to get some chatter going being passed for "truth" around here is ridiculous. if words mean anything it appears we are running a racist as a republican. defined as one who wants blacks to be tax exempt, for perhaps two generations (70 years), while the rest of the non black population pays taxes.
taxation appportioned by race?
a republican idea?
a conservative idea?
No... virginia, it IS a racist idea!
or is it all just aok with the glory hallers, as long as the guy claims to be RC?
I didn't ask you for an explanation did I?
It was. As anti-affirmative action as Keyes is, then he goes off and says "I'm gonna give wads of cash to Kobe Bryant simply because he's black."
Inexplicable.
Assuming that the tax holiday applies based on slave ancestry, rather than racial ancestry, does one qualify if your ancestors were slaves in another country? Does Colin Powell qualify? How many of your ancestors have to have been slaves? Is just one enough? So many questions.
Really? Try not paying your taxes.
Think bigger than reparations. Does the proposal, not the passage, but the proposal itself, overall advance our agenda? Reparations are against our principles, but by a compromise there, can we make up much more than we lose on this front on other fronts?
My "freedom" (and yours too) will not be determined by this faux issue.
My freedom, and yours, will be determined by whether conservatives or leftists control our gov't. This issue could affect that.
domination of the Republican Party means paying ransom to one race of people, I want no part of that domination.
If the price of getting your own freedom from tax slavery is to give it to another group first, you really wouldn't take that deal? People like you will drive the Republican party to irrelevance.
have it in your head that reparations are a burning issue. It's not. Not here where I live, not where you live, not anywhere. There is simply no chance that reparations will ever come to pass. Period.
I agree that reparations are unlikely. And I'm not convinced it is a good idea to propose. However, I do think it is worth thinking about. Reparations are not a 'burning' issue in the sense that there is an overwhelming pressure for action now. But it is an issue among many blacks where I live. They honestly think they are 'owed' And the reason that reparations is very unlikely to come to pass is because R's oppose it on principle, and D's use it to keep blacks on the plantation. It is not in either party's interests to advance it. Maybe, just maybe, it is worth thinking about how to advance it in such a way that it severely damages the D party use of it without horrendously violating our principles. I think that is what Keyes is up to.
Surely!
You said they won't vote for outsiders. It's been my direct observation in the wards that they have, even when they'd otherwise vote for someone else. Before any of them go to the polls they all ask, "what's in it for them". That's what has to be addressed. That's outside of extraneous reasons that exist, because they otherwise don't have a clue. What would be your suggestion to get the ear of those under the control of the rat machine? Keyes has 2 months, so it's bold and daring we're talking.
you catholic too?
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