Unaffirmative

Since everyone seems to be weighing in on the Affirmative Action ruling, I figure I should too...

On the one hand, I certainly recognize the view that many liberals and minorities have that because of the inequalities of the past, we need Affirmative Action to give their decendants equal opportunties. There is a certain logic there. I do not deny that this view has merit.

However, I have a number of serious reservations about Affirmative Action.

First, how do you explain to Johnny Majority that Johnny Minority gets preferential treatment because of actions that occured before either Johnny was a twinkle in their parrents eyes? How is this fair? Should not both Johnny's be judged on the "content of their characters and not the color of their skin"? This is a question that Affirmative Action supporters have never really been able to answer.

Secondly, the logic of Affirmative Action says that minority groups are given preferential treatment not because they are minorities, but because these minority groups were oppressed in the past. In other words, Affirmative Action seeks to give formally oppressed peoples greater opportunities. However, why aren't "formally oppressed peoples" duch as Jews, Irish-Americans, and Chinese-Americans also given preferential treatment? They too were oppressed...The logic breaks down.

Finally, as I read a discussion of this issue on an Internet forum, minority members were constantly bringing up stories of how their ancestors were oppressed in the past. I feel this misses the point. Affirmative Action should not be driven by guilt. That is not the point. No one is denying that oppression took place. The point is that if Affirmative Action really works then at some point in the future the current generation of these oppressed minority groups should have the same economic and social advantrages as the non-oppressed groups. Now, here is the problem with this...What mechanism exists to stop Affirmative Action when it has achieved it's goal? In general, the idea of a grand plans (think "Five Year Plans") to equalize society without clearly defined limits gives me goosebumps. In that vein, I applaud the Supreme Court for coming up with the brilliant idea of placing a 25 year "time to live" for Affirmative Action. Perhaps this is the proper mechanism.