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."
My ancestors were not Roman's silly, they were their slaves!
Good point.
The only reason we need is that our income tax is rediculously unfair. It has fallen away from the original purpose and intent. Reparations is a stupid way to futher the no income tax agenda.
Then why not say that? Why insert it into a reparations scheme and try to sell that to those who won't be reaping any benefits from it?
Good point! I need more coffee.
Keyes is saying individual advancement was retarded, even haulted, by slavery, segregation, etc. The causes a backlog in the family tree. You shouldn't be the first in your family to attend college or graduate high school, that should've happened long ago. He's saying there was so much impediment in access to opportunity, that the delays in the family line's advancement (intellectually, financially) was multi-generational. This bizarre proposal might be a means to insulate himself from being characterized by blacks as an "Uncle Tom."
There's an old adage that before you can educate anyone, you've got to get their attention. This is a great strategy to split the chicago black vote. heh heh. Even die-hard democrat blacks are gonna stop and listen to him now. That's all you can ask for.
Uhh, if you don't file you can't have 0% tax, so the IRS figures have to be correct. If you don't file you must have known you wouldn't get anything back, nor have to pay more in. Either that or lazy or stupid.
No matter who went against Obama they would have lost. Keyes will lose big-time. But he's giving the Republican party a bad name.
Then why not stick to that message instead of cloaking it in a reparations scheme?
You can claim enough exemptions were virtually no tax is paid. But reguardless, taxpayers under $30,000 is paying less at a rate of about 1% of their income to federal income taxes. Maybe it is not zero, but virtually zero.
I'm not in IL, so don't have much say in his current election campaign, but if the article referenced states his true position on 'reparations', then he'll never get any support from me. He's off his nut if he thinks blacks are owed anything more than the same respect I give any human being.
Well now you can get all the post on one page no matter what your preferences are set at..... the continuation of the grand experiment......
My bad.... seems the preference settings do work now.....
I actually like this proposal on a lot of different levels.
1) It pokes a stick in the eye of both the Dems - how can they possibly be against a benefit to one of their biggest constituencies? - and to the Reps - what, are they suddenly against tax cuts? And, that's just plain funny.
2) It calls an enormous amount of attention to his campaign that he would not otherwise get (it's not like the media is going to go out of their way to cover Alan Keyes).
3) It gives people something to think about - I agree with what he says about how individual achievement has been stifled through the years (including the current welfare state).
4) It will probably never actually happen, so he's not risking much.
This campaign is turning out to be even more fun than I had hoped.
That might have been true thirty years ago but a majority of blacks are now in the middle class.
You beat me to it. Good answer. Most people still believe the myth that most blacks are poor. A majority are now in the middle class.
Say goodnight Alan.......
I really, really hope this issue goes away soon. Alan is not thinking of the unintended consequences of this, among other things.
It will cause animosity and jealousy. Not a good idea. That will foster racism. In addition, what of mixed couples filing joint returns? It adds complexity that the tax code does not need. Abolish the income tax, for everyone, and everyone benefits. Institute the FairTax, and place a person's rate of taxation in his own control. That is fairness, and it is something everyone can live with.
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