June 29, 2007
Meritocracy vs. Bureaucracy (Frank Donatelli)
On a stage last night in Washington, D.C., 10 Democratic presidential candidates took turns criticizing this week’s Supreme Court’s decision banning school districts from using race as a criterion to assign pupils to public schools. Those of you who have been asleep for the last 50 years might have thought this practice was banned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, but liberals have resurrected the practice in the name of “diversity.” The Supreme Court quite rightly noted such a reason was not sufficiently compelling to invalidate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, which liberals in other circumstances have held to be sacrosanct.
Liberals are fond of finding classes of “victims” and then promising to utilize the power of government to address the “wrongs” that created the victim class in the first place. The “victims” are then appropriately grateful by providing votes to liberals in the next election. More lawsuits for trial lawyers and their plaintiff victims, more “free” healthcare for victims of the insurance companies, import quotas to protect victims of international trade, hate crime legislation for gay victims of society in general — you get the idea. Worst of all, liberals continue to treat black citizens as victims who require “race-conscious” help and assistance, even at the expense of equal protection, even as anti-discrimination laws have leveled the playing field over the years and even as black achievement in all areas of American society has improved dramatically.
In New York City at the same time the Supreme Court was issuing its ruling, the National Basketball Association was staging its annual draft. Virtually every one of the first-round draft picks were black, a major change from even 20, let along 50 years ago. No quotas or special player assignments were involved. The best players were picked first regardless of race or “diversity” considerations. These were the best players and they were rewarded as such. This is the free market at work, providing opportunity to the best and brightest regardless of race, national origin or any other irrelevant characteristic. The private sector is a meritocracy and looks to the future. Government-run schools are bureaucracies and chained to the past.
In writing his majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts noted, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discrimination on the basis of race.” Isn’t this closer to Martin Luther King’s dream that all of God’s children should be judged “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”?
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Frank, when I was a kid in New England I lived in a rural area and was therefore bused a long way to school. In that school (noting your surname) were a coterie of second-generation Italian-American kids also bused from a section of town where they lived. (Their parents had been brought over to work on the Boston water supply system, I believe.) These kids, the Solitros and Tambolleos etc., were quite different from my usual WASP friends and a rich source of knowledge. I learned new swear words, how to play 'morda' an Italian hand game, that everyone wasn't a Protestant with Calvinistic hang-ups, and other subtleties of life. It was, in short, a great experience. I therefore am an exponent of diversity in primary and secondary education, and view this Supreme Court finding with displeasure as a step backward in trying to solve the great racial divides that unfortunately exist in this country.
Comment by Don Bacon — June 29, 2007 @ 12:04 pm
If our society is interested in equality, our federal government would get out of the diversity business. Diversity by dictatorship is akin to universal Nazism as opposed to actual freedom. The pipedream of all liberalism is a fairy tale akin to equality, while freedom and equality are crushed under the jackboot of authority. In other words the public, left to their own devices, is too cruel to have actual diversity, the government must require it, which leads to stupid laws and regulations, which leads to people being herded around like sheep. Baaaaa.
Comment by Robert Rosencrans — June 29, 2007 @ 12:26 pm
Wow, it doesn't get any 'spinnier' than that! You really need to try using decaf. Why don't you drop by the South Side of Chicago sometime and explain to the folks there that they don't need public education anymore because of how well the NBA draft went. Better yet, tell them about how you and Chief Justice are more 'in touch' with MLK's dream than they are.
We get it, already. Message received: You hate liberals. So what? Do you have anything thoughtful and objective to say at all? Otherwise, I might as well listen to AM radio instead of reading your posts.
Comment by Derek D. — June 29, 2007 @ 12:44 pm
A public education is something to really value. We are spending more all the time and achieving less results faster.
You make it in this country with work. It may be a four letter word but it is a good four letter word. Opportunites abound and if your willing to work for them you will prosper.
P.S.
Derek may I suggest Rush from 11 to 2 every day on WLS in Chicago for your AM listening pleasure.
Comment by David Hamlin — June 29, 2007 @ 2:28 pm
Victims will never say that enough is enough. At some point people have to become responsible for their lives. The liberals will never let that happens, therefore they need to be removed from the government.
Comment by Igor R. — June 29, 2007 @ 2:45 pm
You catch on quick Mr. Hamlin, that's exactly the kind of mindless hate-talk that I'm trying to avoid. I take it you're a regular listener? Wouldn't you find it more interesting to actually hear or read a debate based on facts as opposed to hate and spin?
Comment by Derek D. — July 2, 2007 @ 2:20 pm