Of course, the entire point of paying reparations for slavery is to have a tea party instead of a world war. A world race and/or ethnic war, in particular. Supporters believe that reparations are due to slave descendants not only because of what was done to slaves but because of the persistent effects of racism. To them, reparations are an alternative to taking back what's rightfully theirs by force. Most examples of reparations, including those for the Japanese interned during WWII, are based on the tort reform model. Like a lawsuit, they are based on the legal notion of "making whole again." The court focuses on the individual, not the social group. Technically, all individuals are equal before the law, and many poor and friendless people have gotten reparations in court.

Under this plan, people who could prove that they are descended from slaves would receive benefits. But the passage of time has made the genaeology difficult. The free-market system would quickly corrupt the process. Although most African-Americans in this country were descended from slaves, few have the necessary records to prove it. Such a plan would be a financial bonanza for lawyers and geneaologists. Some would be reputable and others would offer inaccurate or falsified data. In the end, these "bad apples" would seize the benefits of poor applicants and make it more difficult for all applicants to qualify.

If reparations to individual slave descendants are impossible, the alternative -- "community" reparations -- is stunning in its scale and implications.

"Community" reparations, widely embraced by prominent advocates like Rep. John Conyers, leader of the U.S. House of Representatives' Congressional Black Caucus, would involve massive transfers of resources from the firms and governments that benefited from slavery to the communities descended from slaves.

This idea has become so popular because its policy proposals -- everything from debt forgiveness in Africa to inner city investment projects -- already have their followers. Slave reparations have become one more argument among thousands of reasons for transferring wealth from the rich to the poor.

Wealth transfer is another idea entirely. Like slavery, it's an idea over which groups regularly fight wars. The development of Western systems of law, including tort law, is our way of avoiding constant wars over wealth.

But the courts are only an option. War is always waiting in the wings. Some Holocaust survivors sought legal reparations from governments and banks. In doing so, they strengthened the system of international law and promoted peace instead of war. Many of their fellow survivors went to Israel and sought, like their persecutors, an ethnically clean territory. Over the decades Israel has survived, but only in a state of constant war.

The descendants of slaves and the descendants of slave masters often threaten war. The fact that blacks are subject to more frequent traffic stops than whites is a manifestation of racial conflict. So is the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

But slavery is, like racial profiling and the AIDs epidemic, a symptom of a deeper cause, something that, across history, makes people with power repeatedly value material gain over human life.

Socialists believe that capitalism is that cause. Anarchists believe that the causes are power and hierarchy themselves. They believe that the current system must be torn down. To them, accepting reparations would be worse than doing nothing. It would legitimize the system that enslaves people and lets them die of epidemics.

Liberals believe in the law and the reform of the system. Authority and economics must be made more responsive to the true needs of people. They developed the current system of dealing with crimes against humanity, currently in use in South Africa, Bosnia, East Timor and elsewhere. But these policies have always failed when they have strayed from the legal system. Commissions can jail criminals and pay victims, but they cannot dictate the future character of a nation or government.

As a solution to current racism, reparations seem impossible. They can only compensate a few deserving people. The system of law will never permit the massive policy change required. In fact, that system may stand in the way of massive policy change. The conflicts of race and class will continue to burn, and war may be inevitable.