Ramblings' Journal

Keyes tries to clarify his position: He's still pandering

After this morning's Chicago Tribune article that showed Keyes appearing to support reparations all of a sudden, the Keyes camp issued a statement this afternoon to "clarify" his position.

I have also consistently maintained that the history of slavery, racial segregation and discrimination did real damage to black Americans, left real and persistent material wounds in need of healing.

In various ways through the generations since the end of slavery, America has tried to address this objective fact, but without real success. This was at least in part the rational for many elements of the Great Society programs of the sixties, and for the original and proper concept of affirmative action developed under Republican leadership during the Nixon years.

Unfortunately, the government-dominated approaches of the Great Society, which purported to heal and repair the legacy of historical damage, actually widened and deepened the wounds. They undermined the moral foundations of the black community and seriously corrupted the family structure and the incentives to work, savings, investment, and business ownership.

The idea I have often put forward to address this challenge involves a traditionally Republican, conservative and market-oriented approach: removing the tax burden from the black community for a generation or two in order to encourage business ownership, create jobs and support the development of strong economic foundations for working families.

This has the advantage of letting people help themselves, rather then pouring money into government bureaucracies that displace and discourage their own efforts. It takes no money from other citizens, while righting the historic imbalance that results from the truth that black slaves toiled for generations at a tax rate that was effectively 100 percent.

I have also made it clear that while I believe that the descendants of slaves would be helped by this period of tax relief, my firm goal and ultimate objective is to replace the income tax, and thereby free all Americans from this insidious form of tax slavery. It is well known that this is one of the key priorities of the Keyes campaign.

Or to translate it into English? "If I pander to the black folks, they'll vote for me."

He's full of himself. Not only that, he waffles as bad as Kerry.

About the only thing that Keyes' plan would do is to drive an even larger class-based wedge between the races. And it's a far cry from his on-the-record 2002 position. Waffles, indeed.

Posted by mhking at August 17, 2004 08:56 PM