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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No way.
Alan's position is that the blood of the northern soldiers atoned for the sin of slavery, and that the federal tax break would serve as recompense for Jim Crow laws. Many people who were effected by Jim Crow laws are still living.
This doesn't explain why being a descendant of slaves would serve as a criteria for receiving benefits. I suppose his theory is a work in progress.
Easier than you think. It's a nice way to navigate the boards, actually ... following those folks whose posts I most love to read. I should update it.
=== Saw some name there I haven't seen in a long time.
And, unfortunately, probably will never see again ... the board having been perhaps irreparably feminized by ignorant harpies "doing their thang."
Snipe on, Askel. I know better than to take your bait.
=== Snipe on, Askel. I know better than to take your bait.
Thanks for the continued replies to the contrary.
It's true that actions sometimes speak louder than words, no?
Or Latinos as well -- many of the people who are classified as Hispanic in our society also have black heritage.
Thanks for the confirmation of your mission here.
It sounds like Keyes is making it up as he goes along.
Uh-huh ...
I'm still appreciative of Nunya Bidness's defense of life against the harpies who use ectopic pregnancy as rationale for legalized abortion.
Fact is that women who've had abortions are FIVE times as likely to have an ectopic pregnancy. (Neat sort of vicious circle, that.) Although it's true that pelvic inflammatory diseases -- caused by the STDs which result in scarring of the tissues and prevent normal passage of egg and sperm in the female reproductive organs -- are probably the prime culprit.
Hate to burst your bubble but the truth is that ectopic pregnancies are a clarion call to chastity and AVOIDANCE of abortion not an excuse to rationalize abortion on demand to save the life of a mother which she herself imperiled by Choice.
I'm content to let your rant stand, Askel. As always, the more you talk, the nuttier and more bitter you sound.
It was bound to happen .. politics isn't pretty and one needs to be careful of what one says .. because it can surely come back and bite one in the ... well you know what :0)
Excuse me, but Keyes' nutty ideas like reparations are helping Obama look moderate and statesmanlike by comparison. And, as noted elsewhere in the thread, Keyes' stance on reparations is likely to cost him $100,000 in ads from a Republican who is just as repelled by reparations as most of us on this thread are. If anybody's going to help Obama get 70% of the vote, it's Alan Keyes.
lol, you've reached the choir along with the deaf ears I see neighbor...
Nope....but get back to me,when you finally begin to understand politics. :-)
I'm old enough to be his mother and if he'd was my child,he's have better manners and be more knowledgeable.
His replies got weirder and weirder.
It's a new day and there are only 75 more to go!
We FReepers, ProtestWarriors, etc. are just looking for a good hard hitting candidate comparison to politely shove in people's faces: Keyes v. Obama -- so we can hit the streets!
NOTHING WILL STOP THE ILLINI KEYESIAN HORDE !!
BTW, everybody, have you e-signed this important petition and emailed it along to those you know?
SIGN & FORWARD PETITION to GOP Leaders: Fund & Support Alan Keyes Senate Campaign!
Get up to date with Alan Keyes, his schedule and campaign.
Be an Obama fan! 8-o Encourage our Socialist Rock Star Barack! Don't back down! Do those 6 Lincoln/Douglas style debates with that 'right-winger'Alan Keyes!: info@obamaforillinois.com & bobama@aol.com
Any strict constructionist judge would toss out racially-based tax rates in a minute.
That's fine. Then we'd get strict constuctionist judges without the reparations.
I just don't know what to make of this.
If Keyes somehow thinks that this position will win black voters, I think that he is greatly mistaken.
I will believe such a flip-flop of black voters fleeing to the Repubs when I see, Dorothy (The hat) "Gimme me my 40 acres in the loop and a Lexus" Tilmon come out for Keyes!
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