I know I usually stay away from politics but this issue hit so close to home recently that I thought I might was well, comment on it. Here in California, legislation is being proposed for reparations for slavery. I wish I was joking, but I’m not.
Here are four good reasons why I am against this proposed reparations bill:
1. It would require an unconstitutional audit of every resident’s family history to see who pays (or gets paid) what, not to mention the backlash that alone would get;
2. Slavery ended in 1865 and no one alive today should have to pay (or be paid) reparations, as it will solve nothing and satisfy no one, least of all those advocating for it; they will simply demand more and more;
3. Everyone proposing reparations is simply virtue-signaling to try and make themselves feel better about their own miserable lot in life, not because they care about slaves or their descendants, which they don’t;
4. California never had slavery or Jim Crow laws, so there’s more than a chance that if you live here you have no connection to slavery. And even if the cause behind reparations were justified, innocent people would still be forced to pay something they never owed to begin with.
Long story short, I see no reason to advocate for reparations and plenty of reasons not to. If you’ve noticed something I’ve missed, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll look into it.