Once again we are hearing that reparations should be given to black Americans, this time as political campaign rhetoric from several Democratic presidential candidates. As this subject surfaces again, it’s interesting to observe how many people of differing political ideologies appear to be confused by it. But it’s really very simple: There is no legitimate property-rights claim to be made by general descendants against general descendants for aggression perpetrated many years ago. In general, children are not liable for parental debts; how much more so, then, are people living more than a hundred years later not responsible for what their predecessors did!
Slavery and its subsequent mindset, which affected race relations in the 20th-century United States and onward, was an evil all righteous men reject. Does this then make reparations for past harm due to the descendants of those who were mistreated? No.
There is no single fund of wealth lying in wait that was culled from those wrongfully enslaved or discriminated against. On the contrary, the great prosperity of this nation was built by the efforts of all ethnic groups.
There are examples of the federal government’s and states’ providing monetary reparations to peoples they harmed, as in 1988 when Ronald Reagan signed a bill giving monetary reparations to Japanese-Americans who had been interned in World War II. Or in 2014 when North Carolina decided to give payments to victims of its eugenics program. Such examples are scattered throughout American history in an effort to address wrongs previously committed, but the difference is that those examples and others like them are of monetary reparations made directly to living survivors.
Unlike the reparations made to the wrongly imprisoned Japanese during World War II, which were paid directly to those who were interned, talk of reparations for today’s blacks regards a nebulous calculation based on wrongdoing perpetrated against people who lived and suffered long ago. The notion is that since a person’s ancestor suffered enslavement more than a century ago, his descendants living today are also victims and, therefore, should receive compensation. That’s nonsense. Such a claim would fail in a court of law, and it should fail as a government program.
For those who wish to voluntarily (without the force of government) make concessions to black Americans in general because of the evils perpetrated upon blacks in the past can do so. But to use the federal government and its system of legalized theft (i.e., taxation and the IRS) of the American people to fund yet another redistribution-of-wealth program, this time in the name of justice, is most unjust. One does not correct an evil by perpetrating yet another evil.
Further, statutes of limitations exist for a purpose in society, providing societal coherence and assurance so that a claim from decades ago or longer cannot be suddenly thrust upon people. Moreover, reparations claims would open a huge can of worms that could be used by almost every group that has been mistreated by governmental entities. Who gets compensated? How much? The debate would be endless. Add to the mix that some blacks enslaved other blacks. But such discussion is a waste of time and resources, as there is no escaping that only more problems and ludicrousness ensue when a false premise is accepted as a basis for any action.
Slavery is an evil that has been in existence worldwide for thousands of years, with virtually all ethnic groups having been enslaved, and with enslaved Africans taken primarily to the Middle East, the Caribbean, and South America. The fact is that almost every race — Asians, Caucasians/Europeans, Arabs, Africans, and Native Americans — enslaved and was enslaved. The current talk of reparations has less to do with providing a remedial measure to right or mitigate historical wrongdoing and more to do with promising to oppress some to gain the votes of others. It’s just power-hungry politicians throwing out more socialistic offers to gain support, not provide justice. It would actually make for more racial unrest and righteous indignation as innocent people were forced to become slaves themselves to grant proceeds to people who were never harmed by them. It’s simply more aggression.
True crusaders against past injustice would do well to focus on the modern-day slavery perpetrated against all Americans in the forms of income taxation, property taxation, and all manner of other taxation that tells every citizen, You pay or you go to jail or lose your property. Is a person free when his income is confiscated by the state? Is a person free when his property can be seized by the state unless he makes a payoff? Another example: The grip of licensure prohibits many, including blacks, from legally receiving a good income from their talents. Instead of focusing on such actual injustices perpetrated on people today, socialist candidates seek only to enslave more with their promise of exploring reparations rather than addressing and solving the real problems caused by government intrusions keeping people oppressed now.
Focus on free markets, eradication of regulations, freedom in education, freedom from laws without victims (such as drug-related regulations) and freedom from the welfare state, which itself is one of the biggest affronts to (black and other) Americans’ well-being in existence. For those who seek to enhance the lives of black Americans, opportunities and even granting monetary assistance should occur only through willing gifts (true charity), not through the force of government in taking from some to give to others in any form.
To stop thinking in terms of racial division and begin thinking in terms of being an American in the here-and-now would be productive. Our energy and time should be used for freedom-giving efforts. Free people must not focus on the past; they must decide to create a positive present and future. Only those seeking political support and those who wallow in the past in hopes of getting yet another socialistic program would support reparations. Americans, driven by a love of freedom and justice, should focus on making all people as free as possible from restrictions that inhibit personal and economic growth.
