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Slavery Reparation solution-- black votes count as 5/3 of a person (Original Post) Fast Walker 52 Aug 2015 OP
I'd go for that. Also, I'd even say we have black people pay 3/5 of the usual tax rate. When the ... BlueJazz Aug 2015 #1
sounds good to me Fast Walker 52 Aug 2015 #2
Ah, another outrageous person sucking all the oxygen out of the room. The last thing we need! reformist2 Aug 2015 #3
This is idiotic oberliner Aug 2015 #4
Yep 840high Aug 2015 #28
I agree, all living slaves votes should count as 5/3... pipoman Aug 2015 #5
This should have been in The Onion. Ace Rothstein Aug 2015 #6
This belies "Blacks are equal" romanic Aug 2015 #7
I'm of slave decent. You see, I'm part Irish and Irish people were enslaved by British overlords Hoppy Aug 2015 #8
It would foster unprecedented resentment and would splinter the democratic party Orrex Aug 2015 #9
+1 FLPanhandle Aug 2015 #17
Not the first time this silly notion has been trotted out. WillowTree Aug 2015 #10
But Native Americans still would only get a single vote. Nye Bevan Aug 2015 #11
We need to create some sort of registry XemaSab Aug 2015 #12
How do you decide WHICH blacks? brooklynite Aug 2015 #13
Plus. What would be the fraction for people of mixed race? Doingto Aug 2015 #20
Ludicrous proposition IDemo Aug 2015 #14
And what if you're half black? Iggo Aug 2015 #15
No, that would be absurd. Nye Bevan Aug 2015 #21
Ah-ha! I have been mathenated. Iggo Aug 2015 #23
Lmao romanic Aug 2015 #30
Any such proposal would turn the entire country bright red FLPanhandle Aug 2015 #16
It's an interesting thought experiment. hunter Aug 2015 #18
Yeah the responses seem weird to me too gollygee Aug 2015 #31
As revenge for not letting women vote for a long time... Doingto Aug 2015 #19
Would Caitlyn Jenner get to vote? (nt) Nye Bevan Aug 2015 #22
huh, I thought this would get a better reception Fast Walker 52 Aug 2015 #24
Somthing like 90% of folks TeddyR Aug 2015 #26
Would cause a civil war LittleBlue Aug 2015 #25
you can't get to equality with more (albeit different) discrimination Taitertots Aug 2015 #27
Stupid shit when it was posted on Saturday, too. n/t X_Digger Aug 2015 #29
 

BlueJazz

(25,348 posts)
1. I'd go for that. Also, I'd even say we have black people pay 3/5 of the usual tax rate. When the ...
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 08:06 AM
Aug 2015

...amount is figured (as to what was lost), we'll tax the corporations more to make up for it.

 

pipoman

(16,038 posts)
5. I agree, all living slaves votes should count as 5/3...
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 08:21 AM
Aug 2015

We should develop a plan to fight racism with racism....what could go wrong?

romanic

(2,841 posts)
7. This belies "Blacks are equal"
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 08:22 AM
Aug 2015

therefor I could never support something like this. And that's not even factoring those who believe in the "one drop rule" and those who don't.

 

Hoppy

(3,595 posts)
8. I'm of slave decent. You see, I'm part Irish and Irish people were enslaved by British overlords
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 08:32 AM
Aug 2015

and sent to Caribbean Islands to work on plantations.

I still feel the stigma today.

Now, you can keep your mule but as for the 40 acres, I'll let you know where to mail my deed.

Orrex

(63,168 posts)
9. It would foster unprecedented resentment and would splinter the democratic party
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 08:38 AM
Aug 2015

I've never heard a better strategy to guarantee a GOP-controlled congress for decades to come.

FLPanhandle

(7,107 posts)
17. +1
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 11:15 AM
Aug 2015

I would leave the Democratic Party if this was ever part of their platform.

I and millions of others. It would be a boon to the republicans.

WillowTree

(5,325 posts)
10. Not the first time this silly notion has been trotted out.
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 09:29 AM
Aug 2015

Of course, those who advocate for this can't cite any provision in the Constitution which would allow for it.

Nye Bevan

(25,406 posts)
11. But Native Americans still would only get a single vote.
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 09:31 AM
Aug 2015

Because, you know, they were always treated so well.

XemaSab

(60,212 posts)
12. We need to create some sort of registry
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 09:51 AM
Aug 2015

and give them a bold symbol to wear so everyone knows they're black.

Maybe a big yellow star?


IDemo

(16,926 posts)
14. Ludicrous proposition
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 10:04 AM
Aug 2015

The author of this piece attempts to show that disproportionate representation already exists between states and voting districts and proposes another level of disproportionateness as thence justifiable.

There is no chance whatsoever that this would ever pass Constitutional muster, much less any action by Congress.

Nye Bevan

(25,406 posts)
21. No, that would be absurd.
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 12:24 PM
Aug 2015

The logical formula would be that if you are x% black, the vote you had would be:

1 + 2x/300

So for 100% black (x=100) you would get 5/3 votes.

50% black (x=50) would get 1+1/3 = 4/3 votes.

FLPanhandle

(7,107 posts)
16. Any such proposal would turn the entire country bright red
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 11:13 AM
Aug 2015

The outrage at such a divisive would kill the re-election chances of any legislator that supported it and would swell the ranks of the Republican party.

hunter

(38,301 posts)
18. It's an interesting thought experiment.
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 11:15 AM
Aug 2015

It's interesting how these sorts of thought experiments upset people.

Just as the classical physicists were upset by the thought experiments of Maxwell, Einstein, and Schrödinger, conservatives are troubled by political thought experiments such as this.

gollygee

(22,336 posts)
31. Yeah the responses seem weird to me too
Wed Aug 26, 2015, 08:24 AM
Aug 2015

It seemed to obviously be a thought experiment and not a serious suggestion. Did anyone actually think this was a serious suggestion?

I'd be very happy to see the GOP simply stop suppressing African American votes so each person gets one vote.

 

Doingto

(135 posts)
19. As revenge for not letting women vote for a long time...
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 11:16 AM
Aug 2015

Men should be stripped of the right to vote for several decades. Are you with me?

 

Fast Walker 52

(7,723 posts)
24. huh, I thought this would get a better reception
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 08:20 PM
Aug 2015

I thought the case for reparations was pretty good.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/06/the-case-for-reparations/361631/

And it would help if the people commenting here read the linked article in the OP:

"Thanks to a compromise between Southern slaveholders who wanted enslaved blacks counted in the population, for the sake of boosting Southern congressional representation, and Northern whites who didn’t, the framers enshrined the three-fifths clause in the Constitution. This agreement set the census value of a slave as 60 percent of the value of a free person. Even after the 13th Amendment neutralized the political (and moral) compromise by abolishing slavery, Jim Crow laws, which contravened the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equality, stopped blacks from voting. The just answer today is to invert that ratio. If black Americans were once counted as three-fifths of a person, let each African American voter now count as five-thirds.

Reparations in America have come to mean “free” money, so any serious discussion about them also mandates a discussion of how much — an exercise doomed to failure. Other ways of imagining reparations (as the spilled blood of more than half a million Union soldiers during the Civil War; as affirmative action in universities and workplaces; as subsidized education) don’t involve cash payments, but they also don’t do enough to combat the structural disadvantages black Americans face — disadvantages that have gone largely unaddressed by our legislative and executive branches."

 

TeddyR

(2,493 posts)
26. Somthing like 90% of folks
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 08:46 PM
Aug 2015

Are opposed to reparations, and at least that many would oppose this ridiculous idea.

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