Reparations

Here’s a little thought experiment: Suppose person A lives in a valley on good land and enjoys prosperity. Then person B comes into the valley. Because B is stronger, it takes over all the good land, forcing A to live on the worst land. Conditions are so bad that A is barely able to survive. Several generations go by. The descendants of B forget what happened, and come to view the good land as their natural birthright. Meanwhile, the descendants of A continue to live in squalid conditions and never forget. One day, C goes over to D and says, “Your ancestor B took this land from my ancestor A. Now make it right.” At this point, there is no available land anywhere else in the world. D views itself as a good and upright person. D also has all the power. What is the right thing to do?

1. D ignores C.
2. D shares half the good land with C. (The bad land isn’t worth bothering with, but they can split that too.)
3. D and C trade places.

Now, what happens if B has ten times as many descendants as A? We can add another option, similar to #2, where they share the land in proportion to the number of people.