Reparation Movement Is Getting Out Of Hand
Stevens is not alone in thinking the U.S. did something wrong for its long war on people trying to kill us, and that taxpayers need to shell out.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf left the door open to U.S. reparations for Gitmo's finest at a press conference last Friday when asked about claims that four of the six ex-inmates now walking free in Uruguay have made against Uncle Sam for their detention.
"As a general matter under the law of war, there is no obligation to provide direct compensation to individuals detained under the law of war for their detention," she said, but didn't say "never."
These inmates, by the way, are the same bunch denounced as "lazy" and "bums" by Uruguay's socialist president last February for turning down offers of legitimate employment from local unions.
They'd rather have free stuff. And they aren't alone.
Greece's ruling leftist party, Syriza, has made reparation claims against Germany for World War II. Rather than fix Greece's economy by reining in spending and ending overregulation, they'd rather shake cash out of their more productive neighbor, which has done more than its share of reparation-paying over the decades.
The Greek approach is little more than a diversion to hide the government's own policy failures.
And what about the Caribbean?
The multination bloc known as Caricom has called for reparations for Africans and Native Americans over slavery, while the Caribbean Community Reparations Commission and U.S. National African American Reparations Commission plan to hold a Global Summit of Reparations Commissions in 2017, a call that emerged from last month's International Reparations Summit in New York City.
The calls for reparations are part and parcel with President Obama's assorted apology tours.
Where do the grievances end? Once one group gets money, others will proliferate. And no matter what is spent, it will never satisfy the entrenched grievance industry, whose lifeblood is rage, whose hunger for cash is insatiable and whose actual injury is nil.
Caving in to such rent-seekers will trigger endless new claims from others. History is replete with injustices, going back to the Roman Empire. Feel badly about it? Make a claim! It's pure rubbish and has to stop now.
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