The Public Policy: Race to the Finish
Eastland, Terry
THE PUBLIC POLICY by Terry Eastland Race to the Finish H ow odd that President Clinton chose San Diego as the site of his June 14 defense of affirmative action. The last time Clinton had been in...
...He even referred to "affirmative action students," as if that were a label to be proud of...
...Ayn Rand's epistemological and metaphysical teachings are subjected to extensive criticism...
...But, of course, he was also choosing his words carefully...
...House press officer told me she had no calls from reporters asking which programs the president was referring to...
...In Oakland two weeks after the San Diego debate, Clinton noted problems with "all these affirmative action programs" and added, "I've actually gotten rid of some myself...
...Hence his truly awful performance at the University of California at San Diego's commencement exercises on June 14—a speech that kicked off Clinton's year-long effort to "lift the burden of race" in America...
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...With his speech, Clinton at least brought his public words in line with his executive deeds...
...The last time Clinton had been in San Diego—in October 1996 to debate Bob Dole—he took a different view...
...In addition to this, special attention is given to the relation of her philosophy of Objectivism to Einstein's theory of relativity and also to Dialectical Materialism (the intellectual basis of Marxism...
...Clinton's speech also may intensify the anti-preference movements already underway in states seeking to copy California's success with Prop...
...Instead of making a frank defense of the multiple standards that have characterized preferential programs— including those being eliminated at UCSD and other University of California schools—Clinton described opponents of preferential admissions as "those who argue that scores on standardized tests should be the sole measure of qualification for admissions to colleges and universities...
...What if, for diversity's sake, whites need to be favored over blacks in some line of work...
...zo9, which passed 54-46 and is now opposed by his Justice Department in the federal courts...
...The election season behind him, Clinton's current imperative is to impress the mostly liberal historians who will judge his presidency...
...That's not what most critics argue: they simply want the same admissions standard — whatever it is—applied to all applicants, regardless of race...
...Her position on the efficacy of reason remains—also her acceptance of freewill...
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...When he ran in 1992 as a New Democrat, Clinton seemed wary of policies that count and credit by race, and as a Southerner with friendships across racial lines, he was thought to be well-positioned to lead the Democratic Party away from the politics of victimization and racial identity that has plagued it—and the country—these many years...
...in fact, Congress had voted its repeal—against the administration's objections...
...Instead, by casting his lot with the civil rights wing of his party, Clinton has aided and abetted that politics...
...are needed to achieve diversity...
...Clinton, in short, was claiming to be the most dedicated presidential enemy of affirmative action ever...
...Considerably less relativistic than Objectivism, The Stance Of Atlas is also implicitly more individualistic...
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...In defending affirmativeaction, the burden was on Clinton to defend preferences explicitly—to explain why a certain race, and not another, should be granted decisive advantage in the competition for limited benefits and opportunities...
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...Much could depend on the manner in which the Senate Judiciary Committee, held by Republicans, examines his nominees...
...364 pages, including index...
...And is the discrimination such regulation necessarily causes against the insufficiently diverse among us— including the Asian-American students in Clinton's UCSD audience—a tolerable consequence...
...She believed, incorrectly, that Objectivism has the key to answering the problem of induction...
...Though Justice Department attorneys have suffered rebuke after rebuke in the courts, Clinton could still use judicial selection to reverse this trend...
...The Clinton presidency could have been part of this movement...
...Contrary to Rand's Objectivism, it is established that reason is open to the possibility of God's existence...
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...What Clinton did not say at the presidential debate was that since 1993 his administration has been aggressively enforcing, defending, and even extending affirmative action wherever possible—more than any administration ever...
...And his view of affirmative action ultimately might prevail as a matter of law...
...The Stance Of Atlas shows that this problem was basically solved by a forgotten English logician early in this century...
...How many of which race—assuming we can identify by race (how would Clinton classify Tiger Woods...
...Ayn Rand's attempt to found a new morality is shown to be less than what she took it to be...
...Nor did the press...
...Clinton's speech provides ample reason to believe the struggle for equal opportunity will advance without him, and even in spite of him...
...Clinton sang a different tune in San Diego...
...The latter are typically found in outreach and training and enjoy popular support...
...They did so not out of "any ill motive," but out of wrongheadedness: "The vast majority of them simply did it with a conviction that discrimination and isolation are no longer barriers to achievement...
...Finally, does it ever make sense to remedy discrimination against those of one race by disfavoring those of another (especially since they weren't the perpetrators of the discrimination...
...If the usual number of circuit court seats come vacant through the year moo, Clinton could alter the balance of power on preferences in all but two or three courts of appeal...
...If only Californians knew what Clinton knows, they would have understood that racial and ethnic minorities continue to face discrimination, and thus (a non sequitur) discrimination is required in giving them favorable treatment...
...In an attempted diversion, Clinton also said that many of these critics don't object to affirmative action in admissions for alumni children or for exceptional athletes...
...Whatever the problem with such admissions (and athletic excellence, at least, is an individual achievement), none of them come close to matching the issues implicated by race...
...At the time, a White TERRY EASTLAND is editor of the "Media 6 Politics" section of Forbes Digital Tool (forbes.com), and author of Ending Affirmative Action: The Case for Colorblind Justice, which is now available in paperback from Basic Books...
...But he ignored the hard issues: Just what is "diversity...
...In acting as the Great Eliminator of Affirmative Action, Clinton also muzzled his opposition to Prop...
...Between the lines one could detect Clinton's reasons for defending racial In 1996 Mr...
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...An invigorated •nationwide movement against preferences is not exactly what Clinton had in mind when he mapped plans for San Diego...
...More astonishing is that the president could not acknowledge that these voters may have agreed with the measure's stated purpose: to remove race as a criterion for decision-making in admissions, employment, and contracting...
...Instead of referring to "preferences" or "preferential treatment," Clinton loosely used the term "affirmative action" throughout his talk, making no distinction between preferential forms of affirmative action and non-preferential forms...
...The defense of fractional reserve banking made by Alan Greenspan in Rand's book on capitalism is refuted...
...Clinton's lack of candor on this score was matched by reliance on dubious examples and gross misrepresentation of those opposed to preferences...
...C Linton patronized and insulted pro-2o9 voters...
...There's also the possibility that Clinton's outspoken defense of preferences may provoke Republicans in Congress to move on anti-preference legislation that's been languishing for more than three years in subcommittees...
...Clinton praised affirmative action in the U.S...
...Yet this was hardly the only time that Clinton misled voters on affirmative action...
...t The Stance Of Atlas by Peter F. Erickson examines the philosophy of Ayn Rand Ayn Rand's major teachings are considered in detail...
...A year earlier—in Monterey, California—Clinton took credit for ending a program run by the Federal Communications Commission...
...The Civil War did not involve alumni or athletic matters, nor did Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Brown v. Board, and the civil rights laws of the 1960's...
...But the armed services do not employ the kind of double standards found, say, in law school admissions...
...They'd voted, he said, "to repeal affirmative action" (wrong: Proposition 2.09 targeted "preferential treatment" only...
...There's now evidence that its many corruptions have affected the president's thinking...
...military, as if it could be easily duplicated in civilian life...
...Asked about affirmative action, a hot issue in California with Proposition 209 on the ballot, Clinton not only said he opposed quotas, but added this boast: "I've done more to eliminate programs—affirmative action programs—that I didn't think were fair and to tighten others than my predecessors have since affirmative action has been around...
...Leave aside Clinton's presumption that he can read the hearts and minds of pro-zo9 voters, who included substantial numbers of blacks, Hispanics, and Asians...
...The American Spectator • August 1997 55...
...If diversity is in itself a desirable good, then is the regulation needed to produce it here to stay...
...Yet as surveys and numerous law cases demonstrate, preferring someone over someone else on the basis of race is the contentious issue...
...More important, if either Chief Justice William Rehnquist or Justice Sandra Day O'Connor—the two most senior of the conservative justices—stepped down, Clinton could shift the Supreme Court's current 5-4 balance against preferences in his favor...
...Ayn Rand's rejection of collectivism is not disputed...
...Her attempt to solve the problem of universals is shown to be a failure...
...In San Diego he voiced a low opinion of minorities—essentially saying that preferential treatment explains their success so far and that without it they won't achieve in the future...
...I've done more to eliminate" does not mean "I've eliminated" — and when Clinton spoke these words, his administration had actually eliminated only two affirmative action programs, both under duress, as a result of litigation...
...congressional Republicans responded to Clinton's San Diego speech with (for them) unusual anti-preference passion...
...54 August 1997 • The American Spectator preferences: to promote "diversity" and to remedy "discrimination...
...As might have been expected, Bob Dole did not challenge Clinton's comments...
...Other important issues are discussed...
...Paperback...
...The Stance Of Atlas actually provides the correct solution...
...It should be up to those who support racial preferences to explain why race, which our history teaches ought to be the most forbidden ground of all, still matters...
Vol. 30 • August 1997 • No. 8
