Politics
More PoliticsFix Affirmative Action Now
Peter Beinart, senior political writer for The Daily Beast, is associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. His new book, The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris, is now available from HarperCollins. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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The Tea Party’s fight with the NAACP reveals what’s wrong with the debate about race. Peter Beinart calls for a new kind of affirmative action, based on class, not skin color.
Is the Tea Party racist? It all depends on what you mean by racist. For conservatives, for the most part, racism means personal animus: Would you invite your black neighbor over for dinner? For liberals, and especially African Americans, racism means structural unfairness: Why don’t you have any black neighbors? To see racism as personal animus is to largely divorce it from public policy. If you don’t knowingly discriminate in your own life, you’re not a racist, even if you support policies that dramatically exacerbate disparities between whites and blacks. To see racism as structural unfairness, by contrast, is to see race and public policy as inexorably intertwined. If you replace “anti-black” with “anti-Christian” or “anti-military,” you can see the same basic divide—is bigotry personal or structural?—but with liberals and conservatives switching sides. For your average liberal, being anti-military or anti-Christian means cursing at a soldier or pastor on the street.
For your average conservative, being anti-military means cutting the defense budget and being anti-Christian means opposing prayer in schools. The nub, once again, is whether public policy is mostly irrelevant to group prejudice, or the arena where such prejudice takes its most profound form.
More white working-class kids at Harvard would mean an American educational elite less easily caricatured by Fox News, and more able to speak across the red-blue divide.
This lies at the heart of what the NAACPers and the Tea Partiers have been shouting about in recent days. In general, I think the NAACPers are right: Race still plays a large role in the structural inequities of American life. But it doesn’t play as large a role as it used to. In the last generation, partly because of affirmative action, the American elite has become far more multiracial (and far more female and multiethnic) than it once was. Barack Obama, Bobby Jindal, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan all reflect a new cadre of Ivy League-educated, post-baby boomers who, in terms of race, ethnicity and gender, “look like America” far more than their predecessors. In class terms, however, they remain quite distinct. As Ross Douthat recently pointed out in The New York Times, the combination of race-based affirmative action (which favors middle-class black and Hispanic kids), immigrant overachievement (which ensures a significant representation of Asians), legacy admissions (which favors rich white kids) and the high cost of private colleges (ditto) means that working-class whites, especially from the South and Midwest, are badly underrepresented on elite campuses. In the coming years, this problem will likely grow worse as America’s top universities, trying to adapt to the “post-American world,” increasingly seek out students from beyond America’s shores. Thus, if Obama’s generation of Harvard Law grads are multiracial and multicultural, their successors will be increasingly multinational as well.
In this context, it’s easy to understand why the Tea Partiers—who disproportionately hail from the white working- and middle-class and from the South and Midwest—see themselves not as beneficiaries of race privilege but as victims of a kind of cultural and class underprivilege. Telling them they’re wrong is a recipe for more dialogues of the deaf. The better strategy would for the NAACP and other liberal groups to admit that race isn’t as central to American inequality as it once was, and to embrace class-based affirmative action instead. Not only would class-based affirmative action focus remedial efforts on those African Americans and Hispanics who need it most, it would link their fortunes to those of white working-class kids, and undermine the racial-partisan polarization that has marked the Obama years. More white working-class kids at Harvard would mean an American educational elite less easily caricatured by Fox News, and more able to speak across the red-blue divide.
As it happens, class-based affirmative action is a position President Obama already espouses. Arguing that his own daughters shouldn’t benefit from racial preferences, he told the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2007 that “we should take into account white kids who have been disadvantaged and have grown up in poverty and shown themselves to have what it takes to succeed.” Unfortunately, barely anybody knows that this is Obama’s position. If he publicly said so, he would scramble the highly familiar, highly unproductive debate manifested this week by the Tea Party and the NAACP. He would focus public attention on the deepest divide in American life—class—a divide that, more than race, cuts across the two parties. He would make America’s racial and ideological debate a little less predictable. And in this summer of political tedium and discontent, that would be an accomplishment.
Peter Beinart, senior political writer for The Daily Beast, is associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. His new book, The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris, is now available from HarperCollins. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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Peter Beinart, senior political writer for The Daily Beast, is associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. His new book, The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris, is now available from HarperCollins. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
DPGU800
The author rightfully uses the concept of structural racism to defend affirmative action. But he misses one point, a huge one.
The reason affirmative action must be largely based on race is because of the fact that, in a society with pervasive structural racism, most of the "impoverished" people are people of color.
I know that author doesn't want immigrant overachievers (immigrants who come to America already relatively wealthy) to get the same benefit as the minorities living in washed-up areas. Still, the ratio of fair distribution of wealth hasn't reached a level of parity where we can talk about affirmative action simply in terms of class relations.
Plus, claiming that Tea Partiers generally come from working class AND middle class white Americans are a dubious claim. Majority of Tea Partiers come from a strata of upper-middle class white Americans. There's a huge difference between the former two and the latter. For the Tea Partiers, affirmative action is just another way of "victimizing" white folks for just "living." But they don't look at history as closely as they should, or at the right place, for that matter.
Yarbels
Affirmative Action is racism did I say but only for white people or black people? No I did not
If you look up the definition of Affirmative Action then look up the definition of racism you will see that I am right. Obama is a racist that is a simple fact. Unfortunately for America the Joke is on us! Your thoughts would be appreciated. I can be contacted at work http://www.bestmichiganbusinesses.com were still in Beta so me and Granholm and Obama are all doing the same thing. Watching the paint dry. I wish my boss would give be enough time off the get in some golf, oh well.
"your religion is politics and your God is Obama"a great man said that. Continue to cling to your religion and your God I understand how it can be comforting to someone stupid enough to think the Government is going to take care of them.
dooreen
If anyone goes to a grocery store, who do you think is going to be the most polite to you? It probably won't be the white clerks, if anything they will talk to you like a child if you are shorter than they are, or they will smirk thinking you are a big joke, and if you place your wallet down, you might lose it.
The visible minorities appear to be more humble, and it makes a huge difference to the quality of experience, even if their English is not perfect, as long as they give you the right change, and if you still have your wallet as you walk out of the store, I think we are lucky to have them.
wareagle82
are you racist or just practice certain forms of discrimination? Your blanket assessment of "the white clerks" is not just offensive, it is stupid on its face. If that many clerks are mistreating you, perhaps the problem isn't them. That aside, your post is a good example of why sweeping statements are often misguided.
With the minorities, I'm happy when they can handle imperfect English; most of the time, they barely speak any at all. Now is that accurate across the board? No, no more than your claim regarding rude white folks. Nice condescension, too, regarding the minorities. How lovely when they can read a cash register screen and correctly count back your change, and a great bonus when they don't steal your wallet. Just how much more rope do you need?
flyoverland
Anyone who thinks this doesn't go on on both sides is just blind. Recently, I had to take my 90 year old aunt to the ER. She lives in a racially mixed part of town and I took her to the closest hospital. We sat there for five hours while the black triage nurse ignored us while admitting blacks with sniffles. When I finally confronted her, she said, "what do you think you should jump to the front of the line because you're white? We have a system here." I told her I could see her system very clearly. I told her what I thought of her and took my aunt to a suburban hospital where she was admitted in five minutes. I'm sure blacks have similar situations.
Any attempt to favor one group over the other is counterproductive. Blacks no longer need advantage. Treating any group differently will make people see that group differently and create hostility. We should have firm laws on discrimination and enforce them vigorously, then let ability win.
Jimbo123
wareagle82:
We all have different experiences in life, the point is the dialogue.
In my area also the Asian clerks seem to be a bit more polite, I think its just cultural. Because I notice this and say it does it make me a racist?
funnymoney
dooreen
Now that was about as raciest a statement i have ever seen.
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RevPettibone
BAAWS.....
If someone was looking for proof positive the other shoe has finally dropped in America, they have only to read your tirade above.
I wonder if the patients reclining on your couch have any idea how many personal issues you have yet to deal with..
wareagle82
You and Frances Welsing are welcome to take your views to places you find more hospitable than the US. Good luck with that; you'll need it, particularly with that combination of snottiness and racial arrogance you bring to the table. It is sad that your identity is wrapped in your hue. Perhaps, physician, you should begin by healing thyself.
deebles
Seriously, I have no problem with your comment except for the fact that you're a shrink. I think of my twice-a-week-only-for-four-years-so-I-got-a-ways-to-go Freudian psychiatrist as genderless, holding no religion and belonging to no race. It is weird to even contemplate that he/she holds a position on anything--especially a stupid one; so much for a blank slate reflecting unconditional positive regard. Just to be sure--you don't have a green couch-- do you?
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wareagle82
maybe it was our "inadequacies" that led us to invent everything. Meanwhile, the dark continent remains mired in 15th century feudal squalor. More countries with civil wars than without, atrocities that would make the Nazis blush. The only stable nations are the Islamic ones across the top shelf and South Africa. Your people are the ones practicing slavery; your people are the ones practicing genocide; your people are the ones we have to keep having food drives for every few years because they are so utterly incapable of self-governance. Is there a single country led by your people that is not either in chaos or teetering on the brink of it? One????
RevPettibone
to BAAWS and Peter Beinart,
I reject a proposition like yours, based on recrimination, which in order to dupe a people would prevent them from realizing the capitalism of today knows only one color: that color is green; all else is necessarily less important to it..... therefore, race, gender and ethnicity cannot be considered within it.
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timeflies
There are white clerks where you live? Wow, haven't seen that in years and years.
deebles
Good comment dooreen. If I pretend that you're Jonathan Swift, you make perfect sense.
NeoAmericanboy
Great article. I found with the latest "racial misunderstanding" and Shirley Sherrod s true message, America really needs to move beyond the illusion of skin color and more towards classism. That's the real culprit.
timeisnow
I think Shirely had a tought life and has many scars left from it, here is what she thinks of White people now! This was your interview with Media Matters
If you dont think she is racist I dont know what the hell is..
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201007210076
Jimbo123
timeisnow:
Give the friggin lady a break. Another Fox News report that paints her as a racist, yet shows no proof, just some quote from some obscure web site.
Listen to the lady and those whom know her, she's just a nice old lady period.
timeisnow
By the way the Radical who wrote this article is always screwing up the message..
Where I live the All colors of people are treated with respect and understanding, they are educated and hard working citizens. We don't look down on anyone because of their color or religion. Is there a few rude ones in the bunch, yep, but they are never the black ones, the blacks are the kindest and friendliest always!
You can drive 1/2 hour away and the situation changes drastically, the same tax dollars are poured into the schools and the children have every opportunity to succeed but a-lot of them don't... Why is that? Drugs, Crime and Killings are out of control, Why is that? The entitlement programs are fully funded for these people and that still doesn't help, Why is that? Training and counseling are available to them, and that still doesn't help, Why is that? Anyone.....
NeoAmericanboy
Why are you asking the question? I find it amazing that some ppl in our society feel as if "poor blacks" have to live up to some standard that's acceptable to them. Is it that guilty whites can pat themselves on their backs and say "see, slavery was probably a good thing for them."
honestly, not one black person in the ghetto gives a damn what some white liberal or conservative think about them. your argument is not to the source.
i don't say that to be rude, but i am 30 years old, i never once thought about white ppl growing up. i worried about cops. i worried about the gay harassment. i worried about gangs and the drug dealers. i lived it. i slept next to the channel five news misunderstood youths. i know they aren't bad people, just really bad decisions. the ghetto is like an abandoned abused child emotionally reacting.
i have hope for the ghetto. it will never be perfect. there will always be poor people.
timeisnow
NeoAmericanboy
I was in no way saying Blacks care what white people think, I was wondering how and why these inner cities remain the same over all these years, with all the things available to them. I never lived in one and wanted to hear from someone who did, thats why I kept asking why is that?
Do you have the reason why" the ghetto is like an abandoned abused child emotionally reacting?"as you put it and lived it?
wareagle82
time,
decade after decade of same party governance is a good reason why things don't improve. If you have ever wanted to see a living petrie dish of liberalism in action, look at the bluest cities and states, and see what a mess they are.
Jimbo123
timeisnow:
I guess it must be the sun shinning outta your ass that makes them blacks in your hood so nice and friendly and kind. Sound like a bunch of great old Toms to me.
Now the 1/2 hour drive down the road hood, that sounds more like em. Yep, even with all that training and counseling, them blacks just ain't worth a bent nickel, are they snowy?
I say you and our beloved Fox news gotta come up with answers snowy, your insight is just so remarkable. Yep, you even pegged that ole racist Sherrod broad. Come on Snowy, how do we turn them other blacks into Mr. Whitey.
AlexHamilton
Good Lord, why do I always bait myself by reading this guy's articles?
One of America's latest strengths is its lack of a class divide - precisely for the reason that without this, it makes it considerably harder for the government to enforce any harmful "rebalancing" policies across these lines.
The only area where the American government (not just now, but ever since the 60s) has ever waded in to "redress inequalities" has been with the black population, who have suffered accordingly - having seen their economic progress falter directly in reverse proportion with the level of welfare, affirmative action, and so on thrown their way.
One of the primary reasons for this of course, is that the black population have been cast (not by themselves initially, it should be stressed) as victims in society. The result of this, as with any victim group, is to eventually believe their own hype and cast every one of their failures as an inevitable result of the "unfair system" stacked against them. As well as lessening feelings of personal responsibility, such a world view withers away motivation - everything's stacked against me, so why bother? Or, to take it further still - the world owes me something, and will give it to me anyway out of a sense of guilt (be it welfare, affirmative action in college / employment, whatever), so I'll be damned if I'm actually going to strive for something.
Here in England we of course have a similar (though probably less pronounced) problem with certain minorities who are the beneficiaries of such policies (Asians and Indians are, as in the States, more or less immune) - however we have a far far worse version of it in the area of class.
England is of course, the global capital of class warfare, and whether they choose to acknowledge it or not, everyone instinctively knows their place, and consciously or subconsciously acts accordingly. Thanks to "valiant" efforts of class warfare, as championed by the author above, we find ourselves in a position (particularly since the heyday of the unions 30 years ago) where effectively 40% of the population see themselves as victims - utterly blameless for their own actions, and utterly incapable of self improvement (futile as it would be in the face of such "systematic oppression"). Cue massive levels of societal degradation, crime, illegitimacy, illiteracy, and, above all, welfare. (it would probably be unnecessarily provocative to ask you what section of American society that sounds like... but there you go).
Say what you like about the tea partiers, but one thing is for damn sure - they appreciate the value of hard work for just rewards. Furthermore, even at their poorest ebb, I highly doubt that many of them would characterise themselves as somehow being part of an "underclass", in need of more generous handouts. But Beinart wishes to frame them as such - leaving aside the fact that they generally earn above the average wage - and to destroy the one thing that makes America, even to this day, unique among nations of the world: a populous broadly willing to look after itself, even if the trade of is decreased security.
Footnote - before anyone bleats about how this doesn't address giant inequalities / the statistical lack of social mobility in America (which it may be noted has decreased in line with the increase in welfare - hey ho), what the tea partiers, and indeed the vast majority of "working class" Americans appreciate is that happiness and satisfaction arise from "earned success" (as Arthur Brooks hypothesised and proved), not from absolute wealth. Natural society dictates that you'll always have those at the top of the economic scale, and those at the bottom, and any efforts to combat this natural (and desirable) state of affairs will always end in disaster. So it has always been, and so it always will be. The key is to prevent people from falling into the trap of inferiority (as classism does), so as that the street sweeper will feel the same satisfaction from his hard day's graft as the Wall Street kingpin - that is the natural recourse of humans, and if you don't muddy the waters, it will continue to be so.
jus1drun
excellent! might fall on deaf ears here, however.
RevPettibone
to AlexHamilton...
Thats what I love about you Brits, always up for a short story in prose. Thank you for you comment.
To quote a great man, "They say the future will be one of sacrifice and few opportunities..... the American people, the most generous on earth, who created the highest standard of living, are not going to accept the notion that we can only make it a better world for others by moving backwards ourselves. Those who believe we can have no business leading this nation."
He also said, "government is never more dangerous but when the desire to have it help us, blinds us to it's great power to harm us."
johnstafford
American colleges & universities should be praised instead of criticized for being in the forefront of efforts to open up opportunities for minority groups.
=Often in the face of hostile political and media pressure, college leaders have shown real courage in promoting diversity in admissions, even as they struggle to balance their need to cater to the children of wealthy alums, without whose financial support many schools could not survive.
=Remember, for example, it was the "elite" schools (e.g., the "Ivy League") who energized, and to a large extent made possible, the remarkable success of American women in law, politics and business when they went "coed" in the late '60s and early '70s. [Believe it or not, at that time, newspaper employment sections were still divided into "Men" and "Women" sections!]
=So, today, we have a schizophrenic situation where "preferential admissions" has produced both winners (Barack Obama/"minority"/Columbia) and losers (George W. Bush/"legacy"/Yale). And, indeed, more efforts should be made to increase the number of working-class white students at the top schools--mainly by convincing them, and their parents, that access is possible through the generous financial aid packages that are available.
=But, overall, it should be recognized that higher education has provided a beacon of opportunity for talented American students and been a progressive success story at a time when growing economic inequality in this country has made achieving the "American dream" more elusive than ever.
wareagle82
John
I am going to respectfully disagree, not with the notion of affording college opportunities to new people, but to the idea that diversity for its own sake is a good idea. This racial/ethnic spoils system makes a mockery of achievement and of America as a merit-based society. When the qualification gap on SAT tests, for instance, differs among groups by several hundred points, multiple disservices are being done:
--the lower-scoring minority kids are often being set up for failure, and the U-C system is a good example of that. Those students fared much better away from places like Berkeley or UCLA, at institutions where the typical student was more like them.
--the elite students who are aced out becuase of reasons out of their control learn a cynical lesson very early; tell me this does not incubate hostile attitudes down the road.
--having a diverse student body often results in racial and ethnic enclaves on campus, which more closely resembles a salad bowl than melting pot.
--race and ethnicity based admissions are no more favorable than so-called legacy admissions, wherein underperforming rich kids are let in for hte money.
--the perpetuation of the myth that "the top schools" do a better job of educating students than the typical state-run university.
Like many liberal ideas, affirmative action sounds good on paper - let's redress past wrongs. But the methodology - discrimination as the solution to the problem of discrimination - leaves many people cold. The funny thing in all this is that earlier this week Pat Buchanan had an article on teh very same thing - the lack of working class whites, in particular, at 'elite' campuses. Seems an odd coincidence that Beinart would be on the same page as Pat, but I could be wrong.
I am all for people being educated, but I am first in favor of people getting what they earn. If your grades qualify you for the Ivies, go with god. If they only get you into State U, then go get 'em there. And if your first higher ed experience is going to be in a community college, well, plenty of successful people have taken that route. Affirmative action is discrimination and it is fundamentally wrong.
misha1000
As long as there is affirmative action for the wealthy, there has to be affirmative action for the ordinary.
My half-brother who had a C average, wanted to go to law school. He found one who would accept his endowment donation, and he was admitted.
I worked for someone in NY, who wanted his son to go to optometry school. Same thing, C average. He told me the donation amount to a school, and the son was admitted.
funnymoney
I guess that's why we work and save money. You just never know what liberal you will need to bribe.
It is the only thing i like about liberals, They are all for sale.
RevPettibone
to funnymoney....
Touche......
periscope
The Tea Party is just one of many right-wing organizations that has been created to divide Americans along racial lines, class lines and religious lines.
To suggest that we can bridge the racial divide by concentrating on class differences is shortsighted and will fail.
What is needed in America is a realization that we are all in this together, and that any organization that targets Blacks or Hispanics or Muslims for defamation, is a menace to the country.
While Mr. Beinart's opinion is a baby step in the right direction, until or unless, Americans reject the 24/7 hate and propaganda disseminated by media frauds like Fake News, Rush Limbaugh and Andrew Breitbart, we will be a nation divided against itself.
wareagle82
and affirmative action, diversity, multiculturalism, and all the other leftist tripe does the same thing. Are those tactics better? By your own reckoning, they are not as they do exactly what you profess to dislike - dividing people among lines they cannot control. Identity politics begins and ends with the left; it is an integral aspect of liberal ideology.
And in your expected rant about Fox, Rush, et al, you may want to consider what we are learning of late about Journolist, a compilation of (theoretically) professional journalists, all of whom happen to be liberal and many of whom have no issue in colluding on how stories should be presented. Excerpts from Journolists own archives show reporters for a variety of well-known and respected outlets planning strategy for attacking a particular Repub or helping a certan. That is not journalism, but curiously, I never hear anyone from the left getting upset about stuff like that.
Jimbo123
wareagle82:
Glad to see you agree the Tea Party helps divide America along racial, class and religious lines.
wareagle82
okay, let's all say this slowly: affirmative action, new kind or old, is a fancier way of saying discrimination, as that is precisely what it is. Any policy that purposely picks one person over another for reasons of race, gender, ethnicity, income level, or religious affiliation runs afoul of the "all created equal" part of our founding documents that people love to cling to. Being poor does not make a student more or less qualified than being rich; the same applies to white/black, male/female, and anything else. What is it with liberals and their penchant for dividing folks into neat little bundles? Makes them easier to control, I guess.
periscope
Liberals divide people? Have you watched Fake News lately or listened to the fat fraud, Rush Limbaugh? I suspect an ignoramus such as yourself is a big fan of both propaganda operations.
To deny the racist culture that has existed in America since slavery, and to deny the acceleration of wealth to the wealthy, while the middle-class shrinks and grows poorer, is classic right-wing toxic deceit.
Fake News has run four phony stories in the past few months about "Black People." The ACORN lie by the scum, Breitbart, the "Black Panther" fearmongering fraud, the Van Jones defamation, and now the Shirley Sherrod character assassination by the same diseased mind of Andrew Breitbart.
To deny that the right-wing media and politicians are dividing this country by race, ethnic and religious backgrounds, proves a brain-washed or brain-damaged state of mind.
The sane and sensible people need to repudiate the rise of the new "Brownshirts" here in America such as the Tea-baggers, and their enablers in the halls of Congress and the mediawhores and their institutions.
wareagle82
peri,
thanks for proving the point. When you refer to ordinary Americans as 'brownshirts', you have declared yourself incapable of engaging in a sensible dialogue. Here's a clue - any comparisons of American political or media figures to the Nazis makes anything else you say null and void.
timeisnow
periscope
Do you ever watch Fox News? I dont think so, you are a typical Radical trying to Alinsky them... Not going to work Loser.
You must be one of the misinformed government paid Hacks, paid to come on all the Left leaning blogs like Alan to Spew your RADICAL TALKING POINTS. What you say doesnt even penetrate...LOL
Jimbo123
timeisnow:
Do you ever watch anything other than Fox news? I don't think so, you are a typical radical trying to Gordonise them (That would be George Washington Gordon). Not going to work (won't call you loser though).
Jimbo123
wareagle82;
If the shoe fits! You and timeisnow are the worst type of racist, subtle, some intelligence, misleading and pious. You hide your true colors within half truths and semi-logical explanations and scream insult when called out. I'm not even sure you are aware of your racial bias.
Here's a clue - anything in American politics that smells or talks or looks like a Nazi must be called what it is!
mcasio
Sure affirmative action as it is currently structured may not be the answer, but let's be honest, no everyone gets the same opportunities in life. Now some of that can be attributed to personal choices people make, but some of that is due to systemic inequities in how different groups are treated. That is what needs to be addressed, no matter whether its based on class, race, gender or whatever.
Seamus
Really? This is the best you can do? The call for class based affirmative action is about 25 years old. For those of us who work in higher education, this has been an acknowledged problem for a generation; but we were shouted down by the identity group interests on the left and the "free-market fixes everything" blowhards on the right. The tragedy extends to the
descendants of people who have supported state owned institutions through their taxes but have never been able to afford college. Now they are selected against in favor of racial and ethnic preference, and we wonder why there's so much resentment.
People know when they're getting screwed. Stop pissing on them and telling them it's raining.
timeisnow
Seamus
Getting a college education is not a free or easy thing to do for most Americans, this is not difficult for Just Minorities. I put my spouse through college, we got government grants, and loans and both worked, its not easy.
Our children/us on the other hands, have gotten loans, grants,worked hard and we are almost done, but we will be paying for it until we die... so dont act like these people are being pissed on, because the rain falls on eveyone...
funnymoney
Wasn't Obummer let in to college on a foreign scholarship? Just think where we would be without affirmative action?
BROKERIT
Peter Beinart proves to us once again that he is clueless about life in America.I guess that's why he is a "Senior Writer" at TDB,which I liken to being proclaimed "World's Tallest Midget".
Hey, can't you guys just hire wareagle82 and alexhamilton to take over your editorial staff ?
wareagle82
with the 50th anniversary of the famous MLK speech approaching, Beinart provides solid evidence that it is time to rename it to the "I have a pipedream speech". As long as the left persists in perpetuating a spoils system for anything, the vision of a color-blind America will be a nice thought, but not much else. At some point, it becomes counterproductive to divide people by race, color, income level, and a host of other markers that, when dwelled upon, do nothing more than foster resentment.
Allen2010
I think Peter Beinart is interesting. Sometimes I wonder what he is because I often agree with him on alot of issues. I like his articles.
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ndspinelli
Mr. Beinert, this is a noble thought. However, we will deal w/ all of the isms..racism, sexism, ageism, etc. before we deal w/ class. That is because we will NEVER deal w/ class.
Annie57
This is an interesting article, and I agree with Peter Beinart. One thing I wonder about that Mr. Beinart doesn't seem to question is his assumption that in the future, the ticket to becoming part of the American upper class is to attend one of the country's elite universities. I wonder if this model will change as technology evolves at a breakneck pace. Just as the internet has worked as a tool to democratize (sp?) journalism, I wonder if in coming years, it will do the same for higher education.
Thank you.
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