Bingo.
After all, the underlying premise of "reparations" is "wealth transfer/redistribution" (coincidentally an underlying premise of socialism, but hey...)
Take away the inherent "unfairness", and you took away the reparations!
I mean, if the premise of "reparations" is to "take from whitey and give to the brothers", and suddenly, you're NOT taking anything from W to give to B, then there are no more reparations!
And at that point, you can bet something's gonna have to give, or else!
I think we all know that this "plan" ain't gonna work, ain't gonna happen, and isn't even intended to happen -- that it's just a "bomb-throwing" exercize on Alan's part.
The big question is why Alan has decided to become a bomb-thrower.
The way I see it, the possible answers ain't very pretty. Either he went nuts, or he's been lying to us all along, or... hell, I dunno. Cranial accident?
Don't overlook the possibility that he's just been kidding about all this reparations stuff. This proposal is so bizarre (particularly coming from him) that I think he might be able to get away with saying that it was all just a joke. ;-)
I agree this concept is DEAD ON ARRIVAL in Congress, so perhaps Keyes just sees no damage in proposing it as a wedge issue to peel off a layer of African-American support. To me, it's a bit craven to get folks' hopes up about something you know will never become law, but I think Keyes is tired of LOSING and will do whatever it takes to make that next step up in national prominence.
It's up to the Illinois voters to determine if this is a good political gambit...MUD