Ohh you must be racist to talk about Affirmative Action
On the contrary, I find the very concept of affirmative action racist as it
forces people who organize schools, hiring, etc to associate an individual
with a group label rather than consider the sole credentials of the individual.
I will not try to claim that there is no racism, there would be no
discrimination, and all individuals would be treated equally by all other
individuals, there are racists in the world and some of those racists do have
positions of power, however, if we were to assume that the majority of people,
of each sex, race, religion and ethnic background were not racist, then the
majority of the time, individuals would be judged based on their merits.
Affirmative action laws often force individuals to be racist and exclude
other individuals because of their sex, race, religion, etc. For example,
a university might be required to accept equal percentages of males and
females, which ALMOST makes sense as there is about a 50/50 split between
males and females in the population. The same university might also be required
to have equal percentages of whites, blacks, latinos, native Americans but
population data would show that those "groups" have disproportionate
representation in the general population. Would it not make more sense for
a university to be required to accept the most qualified individuals? How
many QUALIFIED white students are denied admission so that some less qualified
Hispanic student can be admitted? How many qualified black students are denied
admission because the university has already met it's "quota" of black
applicants? Clearly, the most fair, honest and non-racist policy would be
to simply grant admission based on individual merit.
But without affirmative action, racism would return
Do you honestly believe that? Do you honestly believe that qualified
individuals would be immediately fired from their jobs because of their skin
color? Do you honestly believe that women who are qualified and physically
able firefighters would be removed from the firehouse? Or do you believe
that unqualified individuals who were given a position based on some group
label will be fired in favor of hiring a qualified individual?
Freedom involves
choices, affirmative action is one more way that the government takes away
the freedom of choice for employers to hire qualified individuals rather than
a "group
representative"; affirmative action is another way that the federal government
takes away the freedom of students to be given access to scholarships and
college admission because of their group representation.
As a congressman, I would seek to promote civil liberties and personal
freedom, which means seeking to end laws that discriminates against people
based on their group representation, which is what affirmative action laws
force upon the general population.