Posted on 08/19/2004 5:27:04 AM PDT by kattracks
His voice rising to a yell, Republican U.S. Senate nominee Alan Keyes told a bipartisan civic group Wednesday he "will not budge" from his belief that descendants of slaves should be exempted from income taxes to help heal the wounds of past discrimination and segregation.The former presidential candidate disdainfully brushed aside questions over whether his suggestion should apply to rich African Americans such as Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan or Oprah Winfrey.
"Do you know how many Oprah Winfreys there might have been running around in the 1930s or in the 1920s or in the 19-teens that got nowhere because the doors were shut in their face?" Keyes thundered. "If you think that because I wear a conservative label, I have forgotten that history and am not mindful of that injustice -- then I will tell you now that you are wrong."
Keyes delivered his blistering defense at a luncheon of the City Club of Chicago, scolding fellow conservatives who challenged his proposal and evoking the struggle of his African-American parents, saying they had talent and "hearts and spirit and strength and faith."
"Why didn't they get to a point where they could stand on this platform?" Keyes aked.
Vying against Democrat Barack Obama, Keyes drew heat from conservatives earlier this week when he proposed exempting descendants of slaves from income taxes for a generation or two, a view he insists "involves a traditionally Republican, conservative and market-oriented approach."
On Wednesday, Keyes ridiculed the fuss over his position, saying it is simply a tax break, something "Republicans and my conservative brethren" don't object to when applied to a "wealthy corporation."
Conservative activist Jack Roeser met with Keyes for what Roeser called "a long argument and an intense one" over the issue before the speech. A Barrington businessman, Roeser said he still is not sold on Keyes' reparations proposal, but still plans to support him anyway. "I will tell my friends that this is a good man, and we should support him."
How about the descendants of Irish Americans. No Irish need Apply.
And I suppose I shouldn't have to pay taxes either, to make up for all the discrimination and prejudice experienced by my people--women. Ridiculous.
This is really going to play well downstate.
This is the proverbial slippery slope. If you open the door to some people to receive reparations, then everyone will find a reason to need reparations for past wrongs. And who is anyone to say that someone's reason isn't good enough? Homosexual marriage is another example of this: open the door to some, then couples of all sorts will want to get married and they'll take their cases to court in order to do so. Incestuous couples, two men and a woman, three men. Where do you draw the line???
I agree. To stop income tax's for a few, is a precurssor to stopping them for all. When people see how much monitary power it gives blacks, they will want the same. Also it addresses my main concern for reperations, that other proposals come out of our pockets and impowers the Federal government.
As a self-proclaimed descendant of slaves he would be included.
Asking the federal government for "slavery reparations" after the efforts made by the federal government to end slavery makes about as much sense as European Jews expecting compensation for the Holocaust from the allied troops who liberated the concentration camps.
If Keyes made the suggestion that blacks living in former slave states should be forgiven their taxes, there would at least be a little logic to this. It might prompt a second civil war, but the devil is always in the details...
Let me make this clear to Mr. Keyes and anybody else who's willing to listen - My white ancestors fought and died on battlefields from Pennsylvania to Georgia in a bloody struggle to free blacks from the bondage of slavery.
I'm still waiting for a single black person to express any gratitude for that sacrifice. And I'll be damned if I'll agree to have my tax money go to pay "slavery reparations" to the descendants of the slaves that my ancestors suffered so greatly in order to free.
Stop talking like just another "All I want is to live off white peoples' taxes" black politician, Alan. You have no idea how much damage you've done to your credibility on this issue...
Please...
While there may be a larger percentage of blacks on welfare, to say most of them are on welfare would be very far from the mark. Most blacks are getting paychecks, or collecting unemployment, not welfare.
Or himself.
Gosh, I hope you are right - a ploy? I like a good ploy. Still, it's very unsettling.
You don't need to accept blame. Why? Because no matter what "we white folks" offer it will never ever be enough. Hence, Keyes is using the handout stupidity of Jessee Jackson et.al, to offer something that in the long run can help all of us. The only way to beat the libs is to crawl in bed with them while filling their beds with conservative bed bugs.
I have thought about it, and I admit that I'm baffled by the proposal. If it is a precursor for tax cuts for all, then why doesn't Keyes cut to the chase and come right out for tax cuts for all? Why the subterfuge? Why come out with a race-based reparations scheme like this? Aren't race-based programs supposed fly in the face of everything Keyes is supposed to believe it? (So did carpet-bagging but we won't go there.) How is he supposed to pitch this scheme in downstate Illinois? "Vote for me so I can eliminate my taxes?" That's gonna go over real big in grits-n-gravey country. If this is a blatant attempt to pander to blacks and try and shave off some of Obama's vote then how many white and hispanic votes will he lose in response to this scheme? Hasn't he thought about that?
Which is why it will work so well to eliminate all income tax. To get rid of the reparation tax deduction, they will have to get rid of income tax altogether.
Just out of curiousity, does Mr Keyes have a plan to determine who is descended from slaves and who is not?
good point
Every time I think Keyes has potential, he starts talking like he went off his meds...
A precursor for tax cuts?
He's suggesting a tax exemption for two generations...that's 40+ years. If he wants tax exemptions for blacks descendants of slaves for the next 40+ years, then he must think that there will be taxes for the next 40+ years, otherwise how exactly would you exempt someone from paying taxes?
This stunt will cost him dearly.
Simple.
You fill out this form, and mark "yes" next to the question that says "are you a descendant of a slave?"
Just more Keyes brilliance at work.
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