We take an almost perverse pride in taking our Liberties for granted in America. On the one hand, it’s good in that we are so inculcated in individual Liberty that we take it for granted, but it’s dangerous in that in taking that for granted, many Americans have lost sight of just WHAT individual Liberty really is.
First, it is NOT “doing whatever one wants, so long as you don’t harm anyone else.”
That is license and it is NOT a part of any legitimate American tradition.
Individual Liberty is, in essence, self ownership, the complete and full responsibility for ourselves. That requires an extremely limited government, almost completely restricted from the economic sphere and only less restricted when it comes to the criminal and civil justice systems.
In that regard, Ward Connerly is a man who stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and Abraham Lincoln. A man motivated by an adherence to the strict principle of individual Liberty.
After his appointment to the University of California board of regents in 1993, Connerly began to discuss his views on affirmative action. In 1994, after listening to Jerry and Ellan Cook, whose son had been rejected at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School, Connerly became convinced that affirmative action, as practiced in the University of California, was tantamount to racial discrimination. Jerry Cook, a statistician, presented data showing that whites and especially Asians were being systematically denied admission despite having better grades and test scores than other students who were being admitted. This was never denied by the administrators of the UC system, and led Connerly to propose abolishing these controversial programs, though his proposal would still allow consideration of social or economic factors.
In 1995, he became the chairman of the California Civil Rights Initiative Campaign and helped get the initiative on the California ballot as Proposition 209. The Carnegie, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations, the ACLU, and the California Teachers Association opposed the measure. It passed by a 54% majority. Connerly, in 1997, formed the American Civil Rights Institute. Connerly and the ACRI supported a similar ballot measure in Washington which would later pass by 58%.
Following the 2003 Supreme Court rulings in Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, Connerly was invited to Michigan by Jennifer Gratz to support a measure similar to the 1996 California amendment. The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative appeared on the November 2006 Michigan ballot and passed by better than 2 to 1 with 58% of the vote.
This year, Ward Connerly’s ACRI has targeted four states (Missouri, Arizona, Oklahoma and Colorado) for ballot initiatives to end race/gender-based preferences.
As Missouri Civil Rights Initiative spokesman, Tim Asher said, "It would go back to obviously the idea of trying to ensure that people are judged based on their merit and things other than just the color of their skin."
While Bridget Williams, President of the AFLCIO called it, “unacceptable," while many local civic and clergy expressed similar outrage. "As Americans, we have not yet achieved the goal of complete equitable society and one of the most effective ways to achieve that goal is affirmative action," Williams said.
To date, three other states, California, Washington State and Michigan, have banned affirmative action’s racial and gender preferences.
“Equal opportunity” is just THAT, the ability to compete UNDER THE SAME STANDARDS as anyone else.
First, it is NOT “doing whatever one wants, so long as you don’t harm anyone else.”
That is license and it is NOT a part of any legitimate American tradition.
Individual Liberty is, in essence, self ownership, the complete and full responsibility for ourselves. That requires an extremely limited government, almost completely restricted from the economic sphere and only less restricted when it comes to the criminal and civil justice systems.
In that regard, Ward Connerly is a man who stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and Abraham Lincoln. A man motivated by an adherence to the strict principle of individual Liberty.
After his appointment to the University of California board of regents in 1993, Connerly began to discuss his views on affirmative action. In 1994, after listening to Jerry and Ellan Cook, whose son had been rejected at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School, Connerly became convinced that affirmative action, as practiced in the University of California, was tantamount to racial discrimination. Jerry Cook, a statistician, presented data showing that whites and especially Asians were being systematically denied admission despite having better grades and test scores than other students who were being admitted. This was never denied by the administrators of the UC system, and led Connerly to propose abolishing these controversial programs, though his proposal would still allow consideration of social or economic factors.
In 1995, he became the chairman of the California Civil Rights Initiative Campaign and helped get the initiative on the California ballot as Proposition 209. The Carnegie, Ford, and Rockefeller Foundations, the ACLU, and the California Teachers Association opposed the measure. It passed by a 54% majority. Connerly, in 1997, formed the American Civil Rights Institute. Connerly and the ACRI supported a similar ballot measure in Washington which would later pass by 58%.
Following the 2003 Supreme Court rulings in Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, Connerly was invited to Michigan by Jennifer Gratz to support a measure similar to the 1996 California amendment. The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative appeared on the November 2006 Michigan ballot and passed by better than 2 to 1 with 58% of the vote.
This year, Ward Connerly’s ACRI has targeted four states (Missouri, Arizona, Oklahoma and Colorado) for ballot initiatives to end race/gender-based preferences.
As Missouri Civil Rights Initiative spokesman, Tim Asher said, "It would go back to obviously the idea of trying to ensure that people are judged based on their merit and things other than just the color of their skin."
While Bridget Williams, President of the AFLCIO called it, “unacceptable," while many local civic and clergy expressed similar outrage. "As Americans, we have not yet achieved the goal of complete equitable society and one of the most effective ways to achieve that goal is affirmative action," Williams said.
To date, three other states, California, Washington State and Michigan, have banned affirmative action’s racial and gender preferences.
“Equal opportunity” is just THAT, the ability to compete UNDER THE SAME STANDARDS as anyone else.
On the one hand, it’s good in that we are so inculcated in individual Liberty that we take it for granted, but it’s dangerous in that in taking that for granted, many Americans have lost sight of just WHAT individual Liberty really is.
ReplyDelete...how powerful that quote really is my friend!
Angel, I think that really is the most basic problem facing America today, we confuse "freedom" with LICENSE (the ability to do what we want), as opposed to what America's Founder's bequeathed us as "freedom," which was Liberty - full and complete SELF-OWNERSHIP, with the full and complete responsibility for ourselves that comes with that.
ReplyDeleteLIBERTY is a burden, a responsibility.
License is a lark, it is, in essence, a complete lack of responsibility.