Forget handouts, reward merits

Just as welfare programs seize wealth from responsible producers and redistribute it to shiftless parasites; so too affirmative action programs seize earned opportunities from the meritorious and redistribute them to mediocrity's. It is no coincidence that the majority of people benefiting from affirmative action programs were reared in homes where a welfare check was more common than a paycheck.

Merit, and merit alone must be the standard by which admission and hiring are conducted. Merit may include, standardized test scores, intellectual acumen, technical skill, athletic prowess, and even musical talent. Anything other than merit as a standard is a fraud against achievement in all forms. Race (and gender) are not causally related to success. Neither relation to an alumni, nor veteran status count as merit either. A single justifiable standard, and no preferential treatment to anyone for any reason, are the twin pillars necessary to support justice in the board room and school-house.

The new racist would like the public to believe that affirmative action programs are necessary to the solution of the very real problem of racism. Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead of fighting for the noble idea that race is irrelevant, they are fighting to place race at the center of American life. It was once regarded as a victory for justice when education and employment questionnaires ceased to inquire about an applicant's race. Affirmative action demands that race be the overriding factor in admissions and hiring.

If affirmative action programs are not the solution to racism, neither are welfare programs. The idea that one person has the right to live as an economic cannibal on another person, leads to social conflict. Visit any project or welfare home; the air of dependency and belligerence is tangible. There now exists in American society an entire class of persons who live off the efforts of others.

The real problem affecting both the welfare ideologue and her parishioners is neither a lack of dollars, nor a lack of opportunities. It is a straight-forward lack of human values. The new racists--like the old racist--reject reality, reason, and individualism, and thereby reject demanding effort, personal responsibility, and individual rights. It is time to reject, on moral grounds, all racist redistribution schemes academic or economic.

[ Golden Gater Online February 29, 1996 ]

[ Top of document ]