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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Yup, you're absolutely right. You nailed it. The Federal government paid for the freedom of the slaves -- paid in the blood of untold thousands of white Americans.
End of discussion.
Now that we've put the "reparations" lie to bed, what else would we like to discuss tonight?
How 'bout that late steelhead season? Anyone think the weather'll be good for trout fishing this fall?
It's for descendants of slaves, not blacks in general.
Thanks. I really did want to know those specifics. I never saw his TV show, or heard him speak until recently on the radio.
I suspect he's going to drop it. The thing is we can't hold a moment of thoughtless speech against him. I'm sick of eating our own.
*Head spinning around*
(Cue Twilight Zone music here.)
If he's elected, and gets this cow-patty-of-an-idea passed, and one race of Americans is no longer taxed, will you think it was a good idea?
dittoes.
Actually I would say that we've gotten to where we are today by democrats playing real politik and advancing their agenda, compromising where they must, advancing where they can, while republicans are rambling on about principles ... while their opponents get 90% of the black vote...and win lots of elections because of it. Republicans don't play politics, so we are losing at politics. And the whole country is worse off for it.
Look at the Senate confirmations. The R's should have squashed the democrats like a bug. They're playing politics and winning. We're being 'principled' and losing.
Think about this...if blacks voted D 60/40 instead of 90/10, how few democrats would win, and how much would that be worth politically? If, and this is a big if, we could get somewhere close to that by offering them income tax breaks...I would make that deal in a HEART BEAT. I wouldn't like it...but I'd do it because it was worth it.
I actually gathered that from your response the first time...
Try reading the article.
I should not have posted that all. It was more thinking to myself. Anyway, if it wasn't Alan Keyes' foot-n-mouth disease, they'd find something else to pick on IMHO. Alan Keyes better get himself straight.
Keyes is pandering. He knows that he has absolutely no chance in hell of winning so he panders to try to get the black vote.
Oh, so he's fibbing to them, or, worse, offering them some hush money?
The best way to get the attention of race hustlers who want to "get paid" for something they had no part in is to tell them, point blank, no.
No.
They have an irrational hatred for him, IMO, because he is:
Don't bother flaming me, "moderates," cause I'm outta here for the night, and perhaps for a while. I'm sickened by what goes on here at this "conservative" board.
Simple. If it gets shot down as being insane, then it wasn't serious, it was just "for discussion". If he manages to slip it under the radar, and it gets traction, then "it was serious."
See how easy it is? I should probably write "Trial Balloons for Dummies" or something, eh?
And won't blacks who might have been intrigued at his non-serious proposal be angry when they find out they were merely used as a discussion-starter?
If he's smart, he'll deflect it by saying something like, "Hey, don't yell at me, I tried to help you, but those stodgy guys over there got in the way. Get mad at them!"
Everyone tells me he's really smart, so I figure he'll probably do OK on that score.
Surely you're not that naive, Knotts.
It's for every black, because "the entire black race was victimized by the evils of slavery."
Come on. You know how race hustlers work. Keyes would give them an opening with this abortion of an idea.
Check out these poor Indians:
http://www.michigangaming.com/IndGame/IGNews-02.html
Yep that must be it. That must be why the Catholic black conservative Thomas Sowell is so unpopular on this board, and flamed constantly. It sickens me. The hatred of black conservatives, and particularly Catholic black conservatives, is a stain on the honor of this forum. Do you notice how Republican conservative blacks running in primaries seem to attract no interest or support on this forum? Connect the dots.
Conversely, is there anything Dr. Keyes can say
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