VS: Diversity should not trump freedom
TIME TO BAN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN MISSOURI? Missouri Civil Rights Initiative's Tim Asher seeks to put it to a vote in November.
BY TIMOTHY P. ASHER
Since Ward Connerly first challenged the absurdity of granting race and gender preferences, we have witnessed the arrogance and audacity of individuals and groups who ardently defend the practice of denying basic civil rights to the citizens of this country. Revelations of societal disparities, a call for compensatory relief to redress past injustices, and the idyllic concept of diversity as a compelling state interest serve as overriding tenets to substantiate and adopt practices that disenfranchise individuals based on circumstances for which they have no control.
The Missouri Civil Rights Initiative (MoCRI) has been called disingenuous for its use of the “civil rights” phrase, as though civil rights belong to certain segments of society and not to all constituents. Civil rights, in fact, are those nonpolitical rights guaranteed to every American by the U.S. Constitution. The MoCRI focuses on the rights guaranteeing equal protection under the law.
As a nation, we possess a remarkable history. Marked by its many triumphs and tragedies, and measured by the will and determination of its people, we marvel most at those occasions which invoke a deep sense of pride or overwhelming disgrace.
We passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to bring an end to years of mistreatment and suffering and to return to the promise of equality envisioned by our founders. The Civil Rights Act repeatedly stipulates that employment and contracting considerations should be made without regard to race, sex, color, and ethnicity; not with regard. In time, however, we strayed from this principle yet again through policy and practices that defy this basic, fundamental precept. The result is a society burdened by a complex system of preferential treatment and discrimination that perpetuates ill will and personal harm.
President John F. Kennedy’s call for “affirmative action” denounced discrimination and sought to ensure equal opportunity and treatment for everyone. Affirmative action programs today often include race and gender preferences, which consequently discriminate against those not preferred.
The Missouri Civil Rights Initiative has been maligned as an instrument to drive a wedge between various groups in this state. The real division comes from those who value diversity above freedom and equality. When we emphasize diversity, we foster a group identity that supersedes individuality and serves to foment resentment and animosity among us.
Founded upon noble principles and ideals, we continue to strive for the lofty goals set by inspired leaders of our past. These individuals masterfully articulated the promises of freedom, opportunity, and equality; men like Jefferson, Lincoln, Kennedy and King. The Missouri Civil Rights Initiative once again reminds us that discrimination and preferences based on race or sex violate a founding principle of this nation.
The people of Missouri deserve no less and should expect no more than to receive equal consideration under the law. Together we should embrace and celebrate only that preference and privilege we enjoy as citizens of this storied nation. We must work to defend and fight against ignoble ideologies that would subvert a free society. And we should welcome each new day in this land, which holds untold opportunity for those who would but seek it.
In an amazing economy of words, Ward Connerly’s dictum exposes the contemporary practices of a bygone era, which seek to exploit man’s inner fears and prejudices:
The state shall not discriminate against or grant preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, education or contracting.
This is but an appeal to our humble recognition that for all our superficial and oft exaggerated differences; we enjoy a far greater degree of commonality. As Dr. King proclaimed, “we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.” Race preferences provide an incessant tug at the threads that bind us together in our “single garment of destiny.”
We hold fast the belief that every individual has the unalienable right to cultivate their dreams in the fertile soil of freedom. But of all the rights and privileges we hold dear, perhaps none is more cherished than the hope of living in a land that offers liberty and justice for all. Abraham Lincoln wrote that Thomas Jefferson’s proclamation that all men were created equal had enshrined in the Declaration of Independence “an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times.” Lincoln understood the challenge of whether “a new nation conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” could long endure.
Government action granting preferential treatment to select citizens has always been and continues to be an assault on individual freedom and a needless test of this nation’s resolve. Thankfully, Ward Connerly is courageously sounding the alarm by ringing the bell of liberty yet again.
Timothy P. Asher is executive director of the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative.
