Can't we all just get along?
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
~Albert Einstein
I understand the supreme court upheld Michigan's ban on Affirmative Action and justice Sonia Sotomayor is being lauded for her dissenting opinion. Allow me to respectfully disagree.
I won't debate whether or not there is racial inequality in our country. There is, and that's unacceptable. Here's the rub though. Affirmative Action has been the government's answer for OVER FIFTY YEARS. It was signed into law (through the infamous executive order) by JFK in 1961. You would think, if this really was an effective solution, it would have worked by now. But no. If you ask anyone who supports the policy, the answer is we still need it because we still have racial inequality. Has it really not dawned on these people that this isn't the answer? I don't dispute that we need an answer. We do, but we need a better answer. After FIFTY YEARS of failure, do we continue a program whose staunchest supporters admit hasn't worked? Can we maybe come to the conclusion that a government solution isn't the answer? Isn't this a prime example of our government sticking its nose in social engineering, an arena where its record is pretty much 0-fer? Can we now stop lazily handing the problem to a bunch of washed up trial lawyers in Washington and saying, "Here, you figure it out."? They have proven they can't.
If you hand anyone an opportunity they did not earn, you do two things. You set them up to fail. They can overcome that obstacle, but it exists nonetheless. You also earn the ire of anyone who did earn the opportunity but has been denied because they were displaced (or those who also didn't earn the opportunity and were denied, but now look for something other than themselves to blame). How far do you think that goes toward changing attitudes?
I don't know the answer, but I'd be willing to guess for it to be truly successful, it lies in we the people, and not we the people's government. It's we the people's attitudes that need to change to combat the issue, so we the people need to own the issue. We the people need to get off our asses and figure it out, and stop expecting congress to do it for us. More effective mentoring programs, both for young people and their parents, would be a start, combating an attitude that says some goals are unreachable and providing paths to legitimate success through real achievement as opposed to positive discrimination. That's not a solution, but it's a start, and it's an improvement over anything that's going to be legislated. People who know more about racism and its causes might come up with better solutions, but those people aren't in congress.
~Albert Einstein
I understand the supreme court upheld Michigan's ban on Affirmative Action and justice Sonia Sotomayor is being lauded for her dissenting opinion. Allow me to respectfully disagree.
I won't debate whether or not there is racial inequality in our country. There is, and that's unacceptable. Here's the rub though. Affirmative Action has been the government's answer for OVER FIFTY YEARS. It was signed into law (through the infamous executive order) by JFK in 1961. You would think, if this really was an effective solution, it would have worked by now. But no. If you ask anyone who supports the policy, the answer is we still need it because we still have racial inequality. Has it really not dawned on these people that this isn't the answer? I don't dispute that we need an answer. We do, but we need a better answer. After FIFTY YEARS of failure, do we continue a program whose staunchest supporters admit hasn't worked? Can we maybe come to the conclusion that a government solution isn't the answer? Isn't this a prime example of our government sticking its nose in social engineering, an arena where its record is pretty much 0-fer? Can we now stop lazily handing the problem to a bunch of washed up trial lawyers in Washington and saying, "Here, you figure it out."? They have proven they can't.
If you hand anyone an opportunity they did not earn, you do two things. You set them up to fail. They can overcome that obstacle, but it exists nonetheless. You also earn the ire of anyone who did earn the opportunity but has been denied because they were displaced (or those who also didn't earn the opportunity and were denied, but now look for something other than themselves to blame). How far do you think that goes toward changing attitudes?
I don't know the answer, but I'd be willing to guess for it to be truly successful, it lies in we the people, and not we the people's government. It's we the people's attitudes that need to change to combat the issue, so we the people need to own the issue. We the people need to get off our asses and figure it out, and stop expecting congress to do it for us. More effective mentoring programs, both for young people and their parents, would be a start, combating an attitude that says some goals are unreachable and providing paths to legitimate success through real achievement as opposed to positive discrimination. That's not a solution, but it's a start, and it's an improvement over anything that's going to be legislated. People who know more about racism and its causes might come up with better solutions, but those people aren't in congress.
John put this out here at 9:48 AM
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