Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered an apology in the House of Commons to members of the LGBTQ2 (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Two-Spirit) community. “Today, we have a long overdue apology to all of those whom we, the Government of Canada, wronged. We are sorry. We hope by acknowledging our failings we can make the crucial progress LGBTQ2 people in Canada deserve. We will continue to support each other in our fight for equality because we know that Canada gets stronger every single day that we choose to embrace diversity.” Trudeau went on to say that Canada decriminalized homosexuality in 1969 and that reparations would be made to civil servants and members of the military who lost their jobs because of their sexual orientation.
A noble gesture it was for Trudeau to apologize. Though cynics would say that it’s a way to attract more votes in the next election, the gesture is a good one in acknowledging wrongdoing by government and the promise to never do such things again. But monetary compensation in trying to right a wrong? Isn’t that going a bit too far? Wrongs are committed every day in government. Is this a road we should travel down? Or is this more leftist guilt being played out to demonstrate how much they care now? And how does government decide which groups were wronged and deserve reparations? This is not nearly the first time we have seen this behavior from government. So let’s take a look at when this happened on the other side of the border in America…
Back in 1946, we saw the start of The Indian Claims Commission that was established under the Indians Claims Act after WWII. In an extension of FDR’s New Deal, President Lyndon B. Johnson took the stalled initiatives from John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier and created the Great Society programs that coincided with the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Though these pieces of legislation were created for many different reasons, they all generally fell under one category: reparations to a group of people for wrongdoings of the past. And in most cases, citizens don’t necessarily disagree in the wrongdoings of government. And it may be beneficial to see the disenfranchised receive monetary help that may very well be needed. But the bigger questions that still leaves a very large “elephant in the room” are these:
Why must society pay for wrongdoings from the past?
What is the criteria for making reparations?
Which groups are entitled to reparations?
What is the ultimate goal of such actions?
Can societal wrongs be righted through monetary awards?
Who must pay for such things when we can’t even pay for the things we need?
There are probably a few more questions that we can add to the list. But you get where this is headed. And when you put these decisions in the hands of politicians, it is most certainly going to become an issue of taking care of their people more than righting a wrong. So now you add the question of how do you keep this from being political? You simply can’t.
And the reason government or think tanks cannot ever broach the questions above is simply because they aren’t looking at this issue as a flowchart, or logic, or as a boardroom would make decisions on where funding should go. That is because reparations are nothing more than leftists relieving themselves of guilt in the name of equality and fairness, which is utterly foolish and wasteful!
Let’s take the issue slavery, for example. Most Americans agree that slavery was wrong. But if you compensate descendants of slaves, what is it based on? First off, slavery was a worldwide practice until the middle of the 20th century (though it still exists on a smaller scale in less developed societies). So America, despite what our government run schools teach, was not the author of such. Then you have the issue of where the money should come from. Does it come from the descendants of slave owners? Then it gets really dicey when you consider that blacks and Native Americans were also slave owners. In fact, one of the most historically sinister slave owners was Native American. So, do we take money from that tribe or just families? Does that come from the money we provide tribes through the Indian Claims Act for land compensation? This is starting to hurt my brain.
This is what leftist ideology does. They try to right what THEY consider to be wrong through legislation. When, in fact, it can’t be done. And when you try to it creates more racial and cultural unrest. What if said group of people believe they have not received enough? They riot! What if they feel all the money in the world does not make up for the wrong? Such is still the case with U.S. Government vs. The Sioux Nation of Indians, where they believe the land in and around The Black Hills of South Dakota is part of their sovereign land. There is millions of dollars just sitting in a bank that could be used to help many impoverished people. But the Sioux Nation is insulted that they did not get the land that they claim is still their land. Standing on principle, they do not use the money. So, all the money in the world did not fix that issue. Now no one gets to use it and the Sioux Nation has been insulted, and is even more furious than if the federal government did nothing at all!
Then what do we do about fairness and equality? Nothing. You can’t create fairness and equality for everyone. The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence tells you everything you need to know about fairness and equality: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
Mistakes by our government or society are made when you deviate from the words of Thomas Jefferson, which is an idea founded on biblical principles. All men are created equal and are ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR WITH CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS. If this principle is applied, then this is all the justice you need. We make bigger problems in our society when we over-legislate issues and then try to overcompensate by giving to one group and alienating another. Wrong is wrong. And equal is equal. You can’t go back and change the past. Government leaders should apologize for the people. They should promise to do better. But they should do no more for them economically then to simply say “we will not impede your path to build wealth for you or your family”. If we remove obstacles and let people pick themselves up and rise on their own, there is no greater good you can do than that. And exercising your fake leftist guilt only makes matters worse, as history has shown.
(Chris Gaines is an author and Editor-In-Chief of Patriot Gaines. He lives with his wife Jennifer, and two children, Patrick & Megan, in the Cedar Valley of Northeastern Iowa.)