Brandon

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Affirmative Action, I'm FOR IT!

Years back, the federal government began using the coercion of withholding federal tax dollars from institutions and businesses unless they developed affirmative action plans to assure that minorities and women had greater access and were better represented in the respective organizations.

The plan was an attempt to address historical injustice and be more “fair.� Also, it was thought that promoting diversity of previously excluded viewpoints represented by these same minorities and women would invigorate organizations with a fresh perspective on all aspects of the organization’s affairs.

O.K. I’ll buy that. But it’s time to take the notion of “diversity� one step further. In a number of taxpayer supported institutions, most notably higher education and media supported outlets like the Public Broadcast System and National Public Radio, it wasn’t enough to add some faces of color and feminine gender around the table.

Diversity and fairness were used as code to sanction, with tax payer dollars, a fresh cadre not of varied ideas and approaches, but left wing orthodoxy.


Is there anyone who could seriously suggest that tenured college professors, in the non-science area particularly, are NOT overwhelmingly liberal? Is it possible to conceive that taxpayer supported media outlets like PBS and NPR do not hire almost exclusively liberal reporters, producers and editors?

If the premise espoused by advocates of diversity is to be fairly applied, then it’s time to correct this inequity. Shouldn’t conservatives have the same right to compete for tax dollars as liberals?
Now, I understand that actually insisting on equality in funding is going to upset some who have grown comfortable with the notion that their point of view somehow entitles them to greater access to taxpayer resources than conservatives. But I think we’ve overlooked this problem for too long and I am concerned that it contributes to divisions in our society.

Implementing such a program of fairness and diversity won’t be any easier than the first affirmative action programs were. There would likely be many persons displaced when the organization they represent is required to find places for conservatives in order to continue receiving federal funds and access to government contracts. However, I’m sure our more than generous unemployment benefits and federal worker retraining programs could be fine tuned to help them transition to other economic opportunities.

As I said… I’m all for fairness and diversity… Let’s just have MORE of it!

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