At last ...(Notes & Comments: December 2005)

At least since the 1830s, when Alexis de Tocqueville published Democracy in America, observers have understood that there exists a fundamental tension in American society between the passion for freedom and the passion for equality. In recent decades, in many areas of life, the passion for equality has gained the upper hand. One sign of this is the popularity of the phrase--even more, the reality of--"affirmative action."

There is, however, a silver lining to this story. For the fact that egalitarianism imperatives clothe themselves in phrases like "affirmative action" suggests that the passion for freedom is not moribund, only that it is not sufficiently vigilant. If a college administrator or government bureaucrat advertised a big new program to enforce racial or sexual discrimination on campuses and in the workplace, he (or she) probably wouldn't get far. But redescribe the same program in more emollient terms and she (or he) might just be able to slip it by. And so it has been with "affirmative action" That's the great thing about the phrase: it seems so, well, so affirmative, so positive. It produces warm, fuzzy feelings of dogoodery while at the same time exploiting, and exacerbating, the canker of liberal guilt. Considered as a rhetorical artifact--which is to say, considered as an instrument of liberal coercion--"affirmative action" is one of the most impressive inventions of our time.

Yet considered in moral terms, "affirmative action" is a disaster. For one thing, it is deeply dishonest. You can see this simply by asking, "What is the opposite of affirmative action?" It certainly isn't "negative action." No, the opposite of affirmative action is judging--and hence hiring and promoting--people on their merits, regardless of such attributes as race, sex, or ethnic origin. This is something that the educational establishment has done its best to conceal, with, it must be acknowledged, considerable success.

That may be changing, however. As was reported in The Chicago Sun-Times on November 11, the Bush administration has cast a cold eye on some fellowship programs for minority and female students at Southern Illinois University, alleging that they violate the provisions of the infamous Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by discriminating against whites, men, and others. According to a letter ...