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Ok will,
I am all for giving people a chance.
Provided that "chance" isn't money taken out of my pocket and given to someone else for a crime they didn't suffer and I didn't commit.
If you think slavery has a continuing impact on society and is adversely affecting the ability of the black population to fully integrate and compete, then fine, help them succeed.
The problem, as I see it, is that the government should be helping ANY disadvantaged person/group succeed in life.
We will argue to the ends of the earth about what exactly should be done as I have a far more conservative viewpoint, but I don't think that we should single out anybody based on past history, race, etc. When we reward people based on perceived wrongs it produces a society of squeaky wheels all of which are trying to complain the loudest so they can get the oil. If it is justified for blacks, it will be justified for Indians, Japanese, Germans (many were put in internment camps during WW2), Irish, Chinese, Mexicans, Mormons, and just about anybody who has ever been discriminated against in any way. A Nation, as policy, has to work to ensure past wrongs are not continued, but doesn't need to commit ritual suicide in a vein attempt at fixing history...no amount of money will change what happened.
I feel 'reparations' should come in the form of a truly race-blind nation where the descendants of former slaves are able to compete as equals, without prejudice or worse....the pity implied by a handout. I could not in good conscience accept a reward, trophy, or position I did not earn. My pocket book may hurt as a result, but my dignity is priceless. By promoting affirmative action, you are telling the a community that they will be hired because of who they are, not because they competed and won. If I were a member of that community that possibility would haunt me because I would never know whether I earned my job, or if it was the product of pity.
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"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." - Winston Churchill
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act out their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E. Lawrence
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