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Politics is assuming command of the American economy in the form of equal opportunity
enforcement. In today's society, everyone is supposed to be equal and have equal rights,
but in employment, there is more discrimination than ever. American citizens need to do
away with affirmative action so that America's job opportunities can once again be based
on merit, not skin color or ethnicity. Laws have been passed, quotas have been
established, and it seems that everything has been done to prevent discrimination, but
instead of ending discrimination, these new laws and quotas have begun to discriminate
against a new group of people, the qualified white male. America is known as the land of
opportunity. The general theory is that if you work hard enough and you are the most
qualified person to receive a job, you get it, but that is no longer the case. Now, in
order to be employed, qualifications don't always matter as much as the color of a
person's skin or his ethnicity.
In dealing with this issue, the first question that is always asked is, What is wrong
with quotas? What is wrong with companies hiring a blacks, Hispanics, women, and white
males? The problem is not with hiring a variety of people from different ethnic groups.
The problem begins whPn the person who is best qualified for a job, loses the position to
someone less qualified. More and more, white males are having problems finding jobs
because they are not black or Hispanic or do not have breasts. Affirmative action, which
is action in the form of quotas and special treatment for protected classes, has resulted
in a politicized hiring process in which white males are openly discriminated against. A
poll found that one in every ten white males lost a promotion because of quotas. They
have become invisible victims because the idea of merit hiring has been subverted by
politicized hiring, and that has left the white males no way to defend themselves against
this open discrimination. Some have tried to defend themselves, but litigation proved
expensive, exhausting, chancy, and very time consuming. One case remains unsettled after
more than six years in litigation. (Brimelow, 76-77)
Many people say that quotas are used to right the wrongs when so many minority groups
were discriminated against, but even immigrants, if they belong to one of the protected
classes are eligible for quota preferences. Leslie Spencer and Peter Brimelow,
sociological researchers who have thoroughly researched the quota system, said that since
immigrants can also receive quota preferences, it is a pretty clear indication that
quotas are not about righting past wrong, but about political power. (n. page.) Just like
how socialism has collapsed around the globe, the leading capitalist power has adapted an
unusual American form of socialism putting politics and lawyers in command of its
workplace although on the appearance of equality rather than efficiency. This problem is
only becoming worse because America has the most far-reaching equal employment laws found
anywhere in the world. (Counting Costs)
Many companies are afraid of these laws, and the fear of political punishment makes
quotas very hard to research. A Kmart executive told a researcher, We're not letting you
anywhere near our program. (Brimelow 77) Companies will do anything just to avoid legal
trouble. The manager of corporate employment at Xerox, a company that uses quotas,
states, We have a process that we call balanced work force. In Xerox, everyone
understands that, and it is measurable by its goals and relative numbers. That is the
hard business, that is what people do not like to deal with, but we do it all the time.
(Brimelow and Spencer n. pag.) Sears, Roebuck and Co. spent fifteen years and twenty
million dollars to defeat an EECO discrimination suit. Sears won mainly because they were
able to show proof of a voluntary quota program. Many companies cling to programs such as
these as a future defense in court even if it means putting up with some unqualified or
incompetent workers. (Brimelow 77)
Not only is affirmative action hurting white males, it is also causing problems among the
protected classes that it is supposed to be helping. Many of these people feel that it is
an insult and are embarrased that the government thinks they need special help to compete
with others trying to get employment. Yet others would be offended if this help was taken
away from them. Black Police Chief Clarence Harmon was once in favor of affirmative
action until he realized the affect that it has on his race. He has said that when he was
going through school, he enjoyed competing and keeping up with the whites, but he now
realizes that many times in the police academy black students use affirmative action as a
crutch. Black students have been found to score lower on tests than white students.
Harmon believes that this is because they do not think that they have to work as hard
which produces less qualified black officers. (Glastris 43)
Karl Marx insisted that for any sort of class-consciousness to arise, there must be
communication of a common sense, but no one can feel the same thing. With the mass media
rarely recognizing quotas, much less displaying white males sympathetically, Peter Lynch,
a sociological researcher, states White males have been easily and silently victimized
one by one. (qtd. in Brimelow) With neither conservatives or liberals making affirmative
action a big deal, a spiral of silence has occurred where people assume that their doubts
are not shared and hide them, then it is just intimidating each other. People are left
feeling that nobody will help them. Another problem with this is the male psychology that
real men don't cry. Many men would rather put up with the hurt than to even tell their
friends and relatives. (Brimelow 76)
Most people realize that quotas do hurt people, but what most people do not realize is
that quotas are illegal. The 1964 and 1991 Civil Rights Acts banned government imposed
quotas, but nevertheless, they immediately spread though the economy. Even though quotas
are becoming more and more popular, there is incredible denial that they exist. Some say
that affirmative action, a regulatory burden, is not massive in scale. Supporters of
affirmative action insist that the Civil Rights Act did not impose quotas, eventhough its
key point was to override a Supreme Court decision and make work force racial imbalance
prima facie evidence of employer discrimination. (Spencer and Brimelow n. pag.)
California Democratic Representative Don Edward's, who is a speaker of the civil rights
establishment, claimed on the New York Times opinion page that quotas did not exist. This
was said within three weeks of Supreme Court rulings about them. As much as people deny
quotas and deny widespread affirmative action, the facts remain that it is still there
and still harmful. (Brimelow 76)
Another way that quotas and affirmative action are very harmful is that they are very
expensive. The direct and indirect cost of quotas, imposing them and complying with them,
added up to between 112 and 115 billion dollars. The opportunity cost, which is what the
economy might have achieved without the misallocate affect of quotas, amounted to at
least 4% of the 1991 Gross National Product, an amount equal to the amount spent on
public schools. (Spencer and Brimelow n. pag.) The discovery of these figures is needed
to show the dangers of a politically motivated employment policy.
Affirmative action hurts everyone-white males, their wives, their families, the protected
classes, and every other American citizen by hurting the economy. Affirmative action
needs to be done away with, so we can return America to the great country once was.
People once came to America to be free to work hard to become qualified for a job. Will
people now come because their skin color will help them receive a job? Martin Luther King
said that he would like to see the day when his children are not judged because of their
color, but because of the content of their character. (Brimelow 76) Every time
affirmative action is put into use, our country is taking another step away from that
worthy goal.
WORKS CITED
BRIMELOW, PETER. SPIRAL OF SILENCE. FORBES 25 MAY 1992: 76-77.
BRIMELOW, PETER AND SPENCER, LESLIE. WHEN QUOTAS REPLACE MERIT, EVERYBODY SUFFERS.
FORBES. 15 FEBRUARY 1993: 80-89.
COUNTING COSTS. EDITORIAL. NATIONAL REVIEW 15 FEBRUARY 1993: 18.
GLASTRIS, PAUL. BLACK AND BLUE. U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT. 13 FEBRUARY 1995: 43-46.