All persons who were held in slavery in the USA should be allowed to claim a share of the assets of any person who owned them. That share would be a portion equal to the number of slaves divided into the amount of increase during their bondage. Since all slave holders and slaves are now dead to point is moot. Does a person whose grandfather labored without pay deserve anything more than a person whose grandfather served in the military? I don’t think so. Does anybody deserve to be punished for the sins of their ancestors, or to benefit from the sins committed against their ancestors? Not in any system that claims to have an interest in justice. Once you begin to punish the son for the sins of the father you are subverting justice and serving retribution, even if you dress it up with compassionate words like reparations.

“It is owed as one would owe for any labor that one has not paid for….

OK. When I read that, the thing that came immediately to mind was this: Has he paid for the privilege of living in this great country? Have I? Has my life contributed to the establishment and building of this nation, or am I primarily the beneficiary of the labor, sacrifice, and death of all those who actually fought for, founded, and built it? The answer is obvious. I wasn’t here then. And those who were are long gone.

We are here, now. The notion of reparations is ludicrous. We are all presently benefitting from the labor of the slaves and free men, women, and children (you didn’t forget about child labor did you?) alike just by virtue of living in the United States. So doesn’t that mean we all owe?

I’d like to know where the funding for reparations is supposed to come from. The taxpayer? If that’s the case, descendants of slaves would be paying themself, assuming they pay taxes that is. If that’s unacceptable, then should it come from the descendants of slave owners? I doubt there would be enough revenue to go around. At any rate, it’s absurd, and more than that, impossible to feasibly implement. Nobody is owed anything. Get on with living in the now, or go somewhere else with the stupidity.

The very same week we learn how the GOP likens Michelle Obama to a gorilla, and another GOP staffer is reprimanded for sending her racist Obama jokes to the “wrong list” (the non-GOP list), we also get this weird apology for slavery.

And now this attempt to twist America’s longstanding “one drop rule.” Golly. Perhaps we could all agree: The more some things change – the more they stay the same . . .