This time, from the right, hitting on a favorite issue of the far-left.

In what must be an effort to jump-start his doesn't-have-a-chance campaign against Barack Obama, conservative commentator and Republican senate candidate Alan Keyes suggested a form of reparations be paid to the descendants of African slaves. Following the favored approach of Republicans, it would be in the form of tax breaks rather than direct payments. Unlike most Republican approaches, however, it would be an outright exemption rather than a reduction.

The scope of his proposal is ludicrous; he is advocating a total exemption for all descendants of slaves, for "a generation or two" (quoting the article, not a direct Keyes quote). It doesn't appear to exclude high-income achievers (entertainers, athletes, politicians, and entrepreneurs), and "a generation or two" covers a period up to forty years. It also flies in the face of Keyes' previously stated view that welfare was far more destructive to blacks than was the lingering effects of slavery.

This article has more on the story. I look forward to an editorial from USA Today (or one of the other Gannett papers), endorsing the Keyes plan, considering their enthusiastic support for the concept in the past.

posted on August 17, 2004 11:56 AM



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