From: James Rogers (jamesr@best.com)
Date: Tue Jul 31 2001 - 23:27:07 MDT
On 7/31/01 9:51 PM, "Zero Powers" <zero_powers@hotmail.com> wrote:
> James Rogers wrote:
>> To apply your analogy back to the topic of reparations, the problem is that
>> some cops apparently have this desperate need to write a speeding ticket
>> despite the fact that no one is currently speeding nor has anyone alive
>> ever
>> sped.
>
> Perhaps not. But the speeders profitted handily while they were speeding,
> at the expense of all the innocent drivers who were driven off the road.
> Both the speeders and the roadkill are long since dead. But the decedents
> and the institutions left by the speeders reaped the benefit of the
> speeders' crimes, and the families of the roadkill still bear the scars of
> the carnage. I take it you're cool with that.
Huh? In our system of law, the sins of the father are not visited upon the
son. If my great-grandfather killed someone and profited by it, you can't
come after me for the murder. And if you apply an "ill-gotten gains"
argument, you will have to quantify precisely how money I earned at my job
can be directly traced to an ill-gotten gain, since I never inherited
anything from my great-grandfather other than his name.
It is as simple as that. If you can directly trace any asset I own as an
ill-gotten gain from slavery, I suppose I could give it up to the rightful
owners without a problem. But since I grew up and lived most of my life
destitute, with everything I own being the result of years of easily
documented sacrifice and hard work, I think you'll have hard time.
Cheers,
-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com
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