Well, it appears that yet another politician has jumped on the reparations for slavery bandwagon. Big time. While that comes as no surprise (standard modus operandi for politicians), it again raises some big questions about liberty, responsibility, and use of force.

The stakes are big, according to this guy: he wants all 44 million Americans who are “black” or “African American” to each receive $330,000 from the FedGov. (Presumably in addition to whatever certain States and cities are pushed to give.) Trillions of dollars – but in a time when the National Debt is 30 Trillion, that number isn’t so scary anymore. The guy isn’t quite crass enough to expect a finder’s fee for getting this money, but I’m sure he expects to reap big dividends in dollars and influence.

Some of us lovers of liberty (and engineers and accounting type folks) are crass enough to ask for and talk about details, however. Probably nothing new, but still of interest as we look for ways to convince people this is not a matter of assuaging the guilt they supposedly have over what their supposed ancestors supposedly did.

Very few African-Americans are of pure African ancestry. There is very often a touch of whitewash – or more – in their blood. Sometimes it can be told by skin tone, or body features: other times by DNA analysis.

Why is this important? This politico wants “all black Americans” to get that money. He says there are 44 million of them here. And more being born and migrating here all the time.

Funny, how no one wants to talk about all the other slaves around the world, isn’t it? No, not the Irish indentured servants or even the peons/villeins of Europe and much of Latin America under Spanish rule. Let us talk about outright slaves held by Muslims. Including those in modern times. And the slave labor of the gulags and the arbeitslager of the Third Reich. Anyone demanding reparations for them? Of course not. We will even forget about the many slaves held by AmerInd (which we’ve discussed before).

The reason? American politics and the stupidity of both American politicians and American voters. Americans are stupid enough, in masse, to think that throwing money at a problem will solve it. Whether it is Ukrainian battlefield defeats, public (government-ruined, theft-funded) schools, world peace, or whatever. Reparations are just another example of how we think little green pieces of paper (or electrons) can solve anything.

Of course, the love of money is a part of that. We have little doubt that if reparations were paid to so-called African-Americans (based on skin color and mental attitude), that a good deal of that money (if not most of it) would stick to the hands of politicians and bureaucrats and activists.

All the more reason to tell them to go get real jobs.