George W. Bush’s Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather Was a Slave Trader

[branford]

87. Yes, I have authority.

According to the most recent polling in 2014, by a whopping margin of 68% to 15%, American opposed reparations. Accusing me of being a conservative because I will not adopt a position that it widely unpopular, including with most Democrats, legally unsupportable, and is nowhere to be found in the Democratic Party platform, is just plain lazy and insulting.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/02/reparations-poll_n_5432116.html

https://today.yougov.com/news/2014/06/02/reparations/

Again, GWB does not personally owe anything to anyone for slavery because he had absolutely nothing to do with slavery. Unless and until you can demonstrate that GWB actually engaged in the slave trade or owned slaves, he simple bears no responsibility, legal or otherwise, for the sins of his distant relative. My mention of the fact that slavery was legal at the time was simply to emphasize that there is nothing in American law to demand one individual whose ancestor committed no actual crime to pay damages to the descendant of someone else. This is certainly not a legal or moral excuse for slavery, but a fundamental expression of American jurisprudence. There is no legal, or I would posit, moral, case to be made for anyone, conservative or liberal, rich or poor, to be held personally responsible for actions they had no part in, slavery or otherwise.

My family immigrated to the USA in the early and mid-20th century, some escaping from the routine pogroms in eastern Europe, later the rest escaping extermination in the Holocaust. My family was dirt poor and never owned slaves, no less engaged in the slave trade, in either Europe or the USA. Rather they were trying to sustain a meager existence while trying not to die in the periodic violence against Jews endemic to Europe. My grandparents and great-grandparents then faced systemic and institutionalized discrimination in the USA, by private enterprise and often the government, because of their ethnicity and religion. Antisemitism was commonplace, and is still a force today, including in many parts of the USA My family also did not receive any government benefits until such benefits were provided to all Americans under the law.

Now, why exactly do I or anyone like me personally owe reparations to anyone for slavery, and if so, how much do I purportedly owe and to whom?

If you want to discuss government programs to ensure that the descendants of slaves receive an equal opportunity to enjoy the benefits of American society and culture, you will find me to be an ally. However, neither I, nor the vast majority of Americans, will support punishing anyone or dispossessing them of their property when they personally committed no crime.