The state of California, despite joining the Union in 1850 specifically as a free state and never hosting slavery itself, continues to pander to one of the most reliable voting blocs known to American politics by pushing forward in its quest to deliver reparations to people who were never owned and paid for by people who never owned them.
As an aside, the Gavin Newsom-create reparations task force seems to be led by predominantly black people, which is akin to bringing a kid to the candy store and asking them what they want for dinner. Does anyone think leftist blacks who have a vested interest in getting “free” money won’t vote themselves a carte blanche?
The latest advancement in the task force’s work now includes a so-called “down payment” to California’s black residents as compensation for alleged systemic injustices, such as how black communities are policed, discriminated against for housing, and healthcare.
Of course, the idea of sending money to folks for the reason of repairing harms already settled by a deadly civil war and decades of unprecedented societal progress is the most absurd, but the task force wasn’t done with dismantling California. The task force has also proposed ending cash bail, meaning criminals – many of whom are pathologically violent – would simply be released after being arrested.
In all, despite not having a specific price tag, some economists peg the cost of reparations at almost $1 billion. For comparison, the annual budget of the declining state is $300 billion.
Fox News went on to address how the plan would manifest, writing:
Calculations would vary depending on how long a person has lived in California and the type of racial harm that person suffered. The final report suggests dollar amounts that have been lost for specific types of racial discrimination, indicating that those amounts should be paid back to Black residents.
These estimates include, for example, losing $2,352 per person per year of California residence for the over-policing of Black communities, $3,366 per person per year of residence for “discriminatory lending and zoning,” $13,619 per person per year of residence for “injustices and discrimination in health” and $77,000 per person for Black-owned business losses and devaluations.
The task force also urges in its latest documents that eligible Black Californians receive cash “down payments” as soon as possible while waiting for the full amount of money loss due to racism and slavery to be calculated.
In terms of the next steps, the task force has a deadline of July 1 to submit its final recommendations to the Democrat-majority state legislature before heading to the desk of Democrat Gavin Newsom.
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Unless something shocking occurs, or someone gets hit in the head and has some sense knocked into them, it seems likely that the push for reparations will proceed and be signed into law. There is no political force great enough to stop the momentum, and Democrats only the power to gain by granting this money.
With that in mind, it seems likely then that only the Supreme Court ultimately stands in the way of this truly disturbing trend.