When Cory Booker is asked about reparations, he responds by talking about his baby bonds proposal, and with good reason. Baby bonds would have most of the same impacts as reparations in practice, due to the wealth gap between whites and African-Americans, but the proposal does not discriminate on its face. Booker very appropriately sees the wealth gap as a problem to be solved through wise public policy, not a reason to pile guilt on struggling white people who are insufficiently woke.
There is a lot to like in this approach. It addresses a real problem, and it doesn’t offend me in the way that reparations would. Is it feasible? My fear is that the GOP would have success portraying it as a huge giveaway to shiftless, irresponsible minorities and thus fire up the base. Booker will have to find a way to deal with that during the campaign if he wants to spend January 20, 2021 in the White House.
A note to my readers: I will be on vacation until late next Wednesday. Posting between now and then will be irregular at best.