You've probably all seen the headline today--population experts and census-studying types project that by 2042, white people in America will be in the minority. Well, big news, if the projections hold. But one NRO Cornerite had the best reaction to this news I've seen:
"...one conclusion ought to be this: In an America that is increasingly multiracial and multiethnic — and where, moreover, individual Americans are increasingly multiracial and multiethnic — it is simply untenable to have a legal regime that sorts and classifies U.S. citizens according to skin color and national origin and then treats some of us better and others of us worse on that basis. Now, more than ever, the national motto must be e pluribus unum. John McCain agrees with this. And Senator Obama?"
Indeed. And let's think about this, too: affirmative-action policies have been at work in America for nearly 40 years now. What exactly have they accomplished? Oh, well, but you don't understand, claim their defenders; such policies are needed to wipe out racism and end discrimination. And besides, they're only temporary, they add. Really? These "temporary" policies have been in effect now for nearly 4 decades. And the same people who claim AA is essential to combat racism need to figure out why they keep arguing with themselves--since they claim in their next breath that racism remains very, very strong in America and a constant threat. What? How can that be, after 40 years of affirmative action? The fact is that classifying Americans according to skin color and national origin and treating them differently on that basis makes racial hostilities worse, not better; and leads to continued discrimination, not less of it. Maybe some day the new racialists will grasp this.
