In 1964 the 88th Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, eliminating discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin (RCRSN). In 1996 CA passed Prop. 209, with language substantially the same, eliminating discrimination based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin. (RSCEN). CA Proposition 209 nobly prohibits the state from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any individual or group based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. I will state the obvious; striking the language that bars discrimination is an admission of discrimination and bias.
Because Prop. 16 requires discrimination in opportunity; it is wrong and unethical. The Equal Opportunity Act and Prop 209 did not promise equal success or wealth, only equal opportunity. Communism promises equal wealth but only delivers misery.
Prop. 16 is wrong for many reasons, and two are as follows:
Fraud in Contracts and Jobs:
- Once we abandon merit and stop requiring that government give contracts to companies that provide the best value and price to the taxpayers, we open the door to fraud. Those in power, currently Democrats, can hand out contracts to their buddies or political supporters. Imagine the tables turned, and some other party or coalition has power or control. The power to discriminate is a power nobody should have.
College Admissions:
- It is unfair to tell a child who studies hard and earns admission to a University based on merit that the government gave a lesser student his or her spot. It teaches the cynical lesson that the American dream is dead. One can’t work the way up the ladder of successin the USA. The government decides who gets ahead, and it is not you.
- Quotas have been a global problem for a long time. Canada’s top University McGill had Jewish quotas until the 1960s. Russia, Hungary, and of course, Germany have had quotas. The US had ethnic quotas starting in the 1920s for 40 years.
Universities first applied quotas to Jews and Southern European Catholics, with a blanket ban on Black Americans. Now, they set their sights on Asians. A recent article describes the recent difficulties that Asians are encountering.
“Why Did the United States Medical School Admissions Quota for Jews End?
ABSTRACT … The quotas ended because of a combination of changing societal attitudes and government and private social action. This remarkable social change may be instructive as higher education now grapples with allegations of a quota system for Asian-Americans.”
The American Journal of the Medical Sciences Volume 358, Issue 5, November 2019, Pages 317-325
College admissions, government contracts, and government jobs are a pie of a fixed size. To give preferential treatment to one group must deny another. Prop. 16 is divisive.
If one wants something such as a job, a contract, or admission to a school, then one must work hard and earn it. To work hard and achieve a real goal is the American dream. It results in bettering oneself in the process. Nobody else can make a person better. One can only accomplish that oneself.