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posted by [identity profile] caramida.livejournal.com at 10:11pm on 11/10/2006
I don't know whether reparations are the best use of our resources or not. Presumably were we to pay out, it would be to people who were direct descendants of slaves. Seeing as how we keep pretty good records, we might be able to account for many folk. Failing that, instead of actual cash, perhaps we could find some other way to help balance the tables. We've spent long enough with the tables balanced against minorities, perhaps we might spend a little while with the tables balanced the other way. Rather than proposing a specific solution, I think perhaps we should actually have the National Discussion on Race that Clinton attempted while the Republican Congress stuffed their fingers in their ears and said, "Nonny, nonny, nonny. I can't hear you."

Of course, in order to do that, we'd have to have someone in office interested in something other than short-sighted, narrow-minded, personal self-interest. While the Republicans carry that as a banner, the Democratic party has not traditionally strayed far from the Me Generation hit parade.
 
posted by [identity profile] cinchntouch.livejournal.com at 10:45pm on 11/10/2006
I like the idea of the National Discussion on Race. I imagine it will infuriate everyone. That might be a good thing. Seriously. Although it isn't a solution (I'm not sure there is one "quick fix") I think it might help to keep things on track in regards to civil rights gains. I think the reparations argument will be dead the minute it gets out the door. Whether or not it is a good idea, the vast majority of Americans will see it as a "handout." I think that in the world of realpolitik it won't play.

Balancing the tables the other way has never worked. Marx tried it and it was a disaster.

At this point I would be happy seeing some of the affirmative action programs for the Universities restored.
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posted by [identity profile] caramida.livejournal.com at 10:49pm on 11/10/2006
Marx never tried anything. He was just a scholar. Lenin was the disaster. Affirmative action is just that a rebalancing of the tables.
 
posted by [identity profile] cinchntouch.livejournal.com at 11:05pm on 11/10/2006
Marx was a philosopher without whom there never would have been a Lenin/Castro/Mao. Granted, his role in the political arena was limited, but I think the Manifesto constitutes a definite political agenda that was implemented. To go with the conservative chestnut, ideas have consequences, Marx's ideas certainly did.

I never thought of Affirmative Action as rebalancing. I have have always thought of it as promoting opportunity to succeed. Rather than claiming the universities "for the people" it allowed different types of people into the universities, what they did after that was up to them.
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posted by [identity profile] caramida.livejournal.com at 11:12pm on 11/10/2006
Well, my idea of balance does not include anything like Marx's hairbrained schemes. I mean a little tipping, like offering advantages to people who have been purposefully dis-advantaged.

I always wonder what Marx would have done if a committee had taken away his favorite pen, intending to give it to someone who was a better writer (to each according to his needs).

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