something that bothers me about the left (one of their ideas)

[Gunny]

so... you are saying that for 85% of black Americans, affirmative action, over the war in Iraq, over the environment, over education, over fiscal policy, over a whole host of other issues.... the democrat's support for affirmative action is THE reason why 85% of them vote for the democrat?

Do you have any data that would indicate what portion of that 85% has actually benefitted from affirmative action?

I didn't think so.

and have you ever explained to me, if affirmative action was so grotesquely distasteful to the republican party, why did they not eliminate it during the six previous years when they owned all three branches of our government?

The Republicans did not "own" all 3 branches of gov't. While in the majority, they accomplished very little. Why they were not supported by conservatives/Republicans in 2006. Y'know, what you call a mandate of the people?

Affirmative action sucks. You were probably a victim of it and don't even know it. You DO know military promotion boards have required minority quotas, right?

The person best qualified for the job should get the job and the employer should NOT be pressured into hiring someone based on skin color or gender. That's preposterous.

 

[Shogun]

I think that once America gets an African American President then we should seriously reconsider how AA is enforced. A 20% minority population will never reach 50% in the workforce because it simply is not representative of the demographics of America and would, I imagine, screw the 30% from the majority who would miss out in order to fill a quota. Like I said, I applaud the benevolence behind AA but it is outdated to the point of wearing on other Americans who happen to have been born white. Keep the anti-discrimination laws but remove the quotas. Remove the motivation to hire based on race rather than ability and focus on issues more significant to ascending class rather than letting the government herd the sheep according to ethnicity. It's not racism that keeps some ghetto trash from getting ahead in life. Still, at the end of the day this isnt 1954 and, in this day of post-90s acceptance, AA is becomming a burden.

 

[maineman]

The Republicans did not "own" all 3 branches of gov't. While in the majority, they accomplished very little. Why they were not supported by conservatives/Republicans in 2006. Y'know, what you call a mandate of the people?

Affirmative action sucks. You were probably a victim of it and don't even know it. You DO know military promotion boards have required minority quotas, right?

The person best qualified for the job should get the job and the employer should NOT be pressured into hiring someone based on skin color or gender. That's preposterous.

the fact that they did not do anything when in power does not mean that they were not in power.

I agree that AA sucks. I also think that it sucks even more that we ever needed a program like AA to begin with. I think it sucks that, just a few generations ago, black people in america had no more rights than livestock. I think it sucks that in my lifetime, blacks were not allowed to sit at the front of the bus, or drink from the same drinking fountain, or even show their faces after dark in many towns in the south. AA was the legislated solution to try to address the engrained economic inequity that such withholding of civil rights established. I hope like hell that it can go away someday soon.

I know that my company has a vigorous AA program, but no hiring managers are ever pressured to hire someone less qualified simply because of their race or gender or disability. Our HR department takes agressive steps to make the candidate pool for jobs accurately reflect the community in which the job will be. If a company can prove it is legitimately doing that, they should, and in my company's case ARE, left alone by the feds.

 

[Angel Heart]

I happy that so much of that is in our past.

 

[maineman]

I happy that so much of that is in our past.

I agree, and would say that, even though it may be in our "past", it is still quite visible in the rearview mirror... in the sweep of history, it really hasn't been all that long. My grandfather worked with ex-slaves before the turn of the century in New Orleans.... my father saw lynched blacks when he was a child. Jim Crow laws were prevalent in the south in my teenaged years. To expect a group of people - separated and vilified by the color of their skin - who had been so forcefully and decidedly held down for hundreds of years to rise up to full social and economic parity in the space of one or even two generations is ridiculous.

Is AA the very best way to deal with that? Perhaps not. But AA is decidedly more effective at dealing with that situation than merely tossing out AA and putting NOTHING in its place.

 

[Angel Heart]

Most of it has been things of text books for me. I grew up in Southern California. I went to a high school that was 50% black, 30% hispanic and 20% white. I saw a lot of what they call reverse racism.

BTW I'm white.

 

[Truthmatters]

I have been telling you people for years now

 

[Truthmatters]

Caging (voter suppression) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The Republicans were caught doing vote caging in 1981 and 1986 which effected mostly black voters.

years

 

[Moonglow]

You cannot disagree with them, without being, a biggot, a racist, a homophobe, anti-woman, anti-something, because to the liberal ideal, conservatism, and conservatives are just stupid.

Now, I dont think liberalism, will admit its inherent intolerance, and ex-clusion of anyone who doesnt agree lockstep with its party platform and ideas, but it should.

You shouldnt have to agree with someone in order not to be racist, a homephobe, anti-woman etc.

Do you agree or disagree with my criticism of the left.

Then and only then, please give me your criticism of the right.

You are posting on an internet site that does not contain very many bright non-extremist dancing with death, or insanity.
I gave up years ago on having decent debates online.
This goes for all, not just left or right leaning people.