|
et respondens rex dicet illis amen dico vobis quamdiu fecistis
uni de his fratribus meis minimis mihi fecistis
And the
king answering shall say to them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of these my least brethren, you
did it to me Lost a SAM at New Ruskin College.com Where have all the Libyan surface to air missiles gone?Gone to terrorists everyone, when will we
ever learn? Lecture Notes 10-21-12 To: Mr. Romney Subject: Obama’s failure to secure
surface to air missiles in the Libyan stockpiles. Someone should ask the President why he did not take control of the Libyan surface to air missiles. Was it because the former academic, community organizer,
machine politician, was unable to direct the U. S. M. C. into harms way to secure these weapons? Too
timid to take action? Note that it took months to give the order to attack OBL even though they
knew the Al-Qaeda messengers were coming and going from the safe house. (The US learned the name of the messenger
from water boarding the terrorists. (In WWII the US charged the Japanese for water boarding its personnel.
The difference is that our troops were in uniform, in accordance with international law. When these troops
moved they carried their national flag for all to see. Their actions were proclaimed in a declaration of war
and their actions were set against the uniformed enemy. The US abided by the Geneva Conventions. The
terrorists do not wear uniforms, they target civilians, they act in secret.)) With Mr. Obama in office we will find out where the surface to air missiles
are when the air planes start falling from the sky. PS And I think that Iran’s nuclear program should be destroyed and the regime
must be overthrown. Lecture Notes
9-17-12
To: Mr. Romney
Subject: The First Policy is the Economy, but it is not
the only Policy.
I am a Republican because I recognize that the first policy of government must be to get the economy right. If you
do not get the economy right none of the other policies matter. However the difference between the two political parties with respect to the economy has narrowed
in recent years. And not just in America but in Britain as well. The so called New Labor Party represents an open acknowledgement
that the Socialist Dreams have been replaced by economic realism.
Since Billy Clinton
led the Democrats back to the center on the economy, the debate between the two Parties turns less on economics and more on
the other issues which divide us. For example welfare had been for at least three generations thought by Democrats as an alternative or substitute to
gainful participation in the economy. Welfare reform under Billy Clinton is another open acknowledgement that welfare was
no substitute for work. Both Parties had come to see that the culture of welfare was ruinous to the human spirit.
(As I understand
the position of Doctor Professor Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan on welfare reform, it came down to one issue: will we guarantee
the children of welfare absolute protection? Dr. Gingrich is the only political leader to answer Dr. Moynihan’s position.
Dr. Gingrich offered the idea of creating orphanages. (I had previously recommended we call orphanages “24 hour schools,”
as a more up to date term.) But Billy Clinton turned a blind eye on the plight of the children of welfare. No guarantees for
the children were forthcoming. They “rolled over Moynihan” as one administration staffer said.)
But the fact
remains that before welfare reform the Republican Party held the leading position on that issue and the culture of dependency
. The Democrats for over three generations aligned themselves with that poisonous culture of welfare. (The recent movie Precious
showed the lives of welfare recipients.) However, the point I am making is strategic: as the Democrats move to the center
the argument for Republicans grows weaker.
Had the Republicans followed Dr.
Gingrich’s suggestion the Republicans could have once again taken the moral high ground by offering 24 hour schools
for troubled youths. There are 19,000 children in New York Cities’ homeless shelters. You may feel that these are just
part of the 47% who are dependent on the government and you “don’t care about them.”
However, the 5% to 10% you identify as being in the center and who may be amenable to our arguments
are concerned about the homeless, and about the 50 million without insurance coverage, and about the 23 million unemployed
or under employed or just to discouraged to look for work.
If you want to persuade the middle 10% you
must concern yourself with the bottom 47% for the middle 10% of voters are looking at how you would treat “the least
of them,” before giving you their vote.
PS And I think the Iranian nuclear program should be destroyed and the regime
must be overthrown.
Americans disappointed by Humanity at New Ruskin College Lecture Notes:
10-13-12 The Florida
state Board of Education passed a controversial plan to set reading and math goals based upon race. News Tampa CBS October 12, 2012 11:32 AM Florida State Board of Education, John F. Kennedy Middle School, Palm Beach County, Palm Beach Post Palm Beach, Fla. (CBS TAMPA) – The Florida State Board of Education
passed a plan that sets goals for students in math and reading based upon their race. On Tuesday, the board passed a revised strategic plan that says that by 2018, it wants 90 percent
of Asian students, 88 percent of white students, 81 percent of Hispanics and 74 percent of black students to be reading at
or above grade level. For math, the goals are 92 percent of Asian kids to be proficient, whites at 86 percent, Hispanics at
80 percent and blacks at 74 percent. It also measures by other groupings, such as poverty and disabilities, reported the Palm
Beach Post. The plan has
infuriated many community activists in Palm Beach County and across the state. “To expect less from one demographic and more from another is just a little off-base,”
Juan Lopez, magnet coordinator at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Riviera Beach, told the Palm Beach Post. JFK Middle has a black student population of about 88 percent. “Our kids, although they come from different socioeconomic backgrounds,
they still have the ability to learn,” Lopez said. “To dumb down the expectations for one group, that seems a
little unfair.” Others
in the community agreed with Lopez’s assessment. But the Florida Department of Education said the goals recognize that
not every group is starting from the same point and are meant to be ambitious but realistic. As an example, the percentage of white students scoring at or above grade
level (as measured by whether they scored a 3 or higher on the reading FCAT) was 69 percent in 2011-2012, according to the
state. For black students, it was 38 percent, and for Hispanics, it was 53 percent. In addition, State Board of Education Chairwoman Kathleen Shanahan said that setting goals for
different subgroups was needed to comply with terms of a waiver that Florida and 32 other states have from some provisions
of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. These waivers were used to make the states independent from some federal regulations. “We have set a very high goal for all students to reach in Florida,”
Shanahan said. But Palm Beach
County School Board vice-chairwoman Debra Robinson isn’t buying the rationale.
“I’m somewhere between complete
and utter disgust and anger and disappointment with humanity,” Robinson told the Post. She said she has been receiving
complaints from upset black and Hispanic parents since the state board took its action this week.
Robinson called the state board’s actions essentially “proclaiming
racism” and said she wants Palm Beach County to continue to educate every child with the same expectations, regardless
of race
PS And I think Iran’s nuclear program must be destroyed
and the regime should be over thrown. No end to it at New Ruskin College Lecture Notes:
10-12-12 To:
Mr. Romney Subject:
Dr. Milton Freidman’s last words I previously explained the reason for how a Conservative could support minimum wage laws. I pointed out the things we have done to limit the freedom
of action for the poor: push carts in the downtown are outlawed, even such occupations as florists,
hair dressers, and manicurists all require testing for state and local government’s licensing. One could
also include the closing of the Great Frontier; the heavily capitalized farming industry displacing small farmers;
the loss of low value added industries as they moved to overseas; the loss of
manual labor jobs from construction sites to the factory floor. Perhaps nothing has been so damaging to the laboring classes as the huge bureaucratic
project of exclusionary zoning and its single use doctrine. City planners have imposed anti-market controls based
on an esthetic that they have learned at the elite schools. At these schools they learn to regard people as “congestion;”
tall buildings as a kind of pollution and their residents as “aliens;” and mixed use zoning as old fashion. What is most notable about exclusionary zoning and building
codes is the across the board acceptance by both Right and Left. The Left can at least claim that they believe
in government and its ability to direct the economy. But even conservatives see nothing wrong with denying private
property owners the full use of their property. As Dr. Edward Glaeser has said in his
important new book The Triumph of the City, Boston, New York City, and San Francisco all
Left controlled for the last 60 years are leaders in zoning out the poor. Cities have been so successful at zoning out the poor that they now have no
place for those low income workers that are needed by the city. The City of Santa Barbara, for example,, has
turned over church and city parking lots for people who are living in their cars. The homeless are nannies, housekeepers,
gardeners, bus drivers etc. Given all of this interference with the free market what is a minimum wage law?
An unacceptable interference with free enterprise? Of course this attitude is foolish. But
not so foolish that Rush Limbaugh can’t proclaim it. (I once posted a series of posts on modular construction
which is outlawed by most cities with exclusionary building codes. Rush Limbaugh went on the air and said he
would not want a mobile home next to his mansion. (Note there is a difference between planned communities where
the deeds include such covenants that limit what can be built, and even what color it can be painted, and cities with no deed
restrictions. )) All
these examples are just a few that could be used to show how we the people, acting through the state, have undermined the
position of the laboring classes, i.e. the poor. The creation of a minimum wage law is just a pitifully small
way we can counter balance all this and give aid to the poor. Milton Friedman was
asked what he thought of the logic of this argument. He replied in an exasperated way saying ‘There
will be no end to it. The government is involved in so many ways in the market that there will be
no limit to demands to counteract the interference in the market.’ I am reminded of a New Yorker cartoon showing a doctor and a nurse standing at the window
of the nursery with the caption of the doctor saying “Where will it all end Nurse Smith. . . where will
it all end.”
PS
And I think Iran’s nuclear program must be destroyed and the regime should be over thrown.
Mary Joe you came close but "Doctor Professor"
is not unusual enough to warrant a post here. Try for five words in a row next time.
Lecture
Notes 10-01-12
But what are we to do Mr. President, the scorned and wretched of this world, who want to learn!
George H. W. Bush:
Well go back to school god damn it what do I care.
Presidential Adviser number one: You can’t talk to him like that.
Presidential Adviser number
two: Yeah, because you are the President.
New Ruskin College
Style Book:
Capitalized Titles:Capitalize titles only if they refer to a
specific position. For example, when discussing presidents of private companies use president (un-capitalized).
However if you are referring to a specific President, for example, of the Ford Motor Company, you capitalize President.
At the first use the full title should be used and capitalized, for example President of the United
States of America. After the first use the full title, ‘United States of America,’ can be dropped
and we can refer to the President only. The reader knows the capitalized President by
itself refers back to President of the United States of America.
Lecture Notes 09-29-12
To: Mr. Romney
Subject: Obama: If Romney Wants to Start Another War, "He Should Say
So!”
------- Real Clear Politics 9-23-12
Another war! How many wars have you started? Doesn’t Mr.
Obama see that when he says the United States “will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,”
he is at least implying that we will resort to war? Or does his admonition not apply to himself?
Is it because he really is not thinking he will resort to war?
Mr. Obama does not have to tell the public he will go to war because he
knows secretly that he is not even considering war to stop the Iranians. He knows he is lying when he implies
we will go to war. Community
organizing requires a different set of skills than does an executive leadership position. Mayors, governors,
and presidents of countries or presidents of companies, know the real meaning of leadership. Mr. Obama
does not set a red line on the Iranian question, because he cannot commit himself to a path of action.
He cannot apply his will to a complicated international problem; or any problem. Recall that in 2008 he was promising us he would open negotiations with
the Iranians. Starting up the negotiations merely needed the community organizer to be willing to meet
with the Iranians. How did that work out? Community
Organizers are good “facilitators” of discussions, they can use white boards to track the suggestions of the target
group they are able to make everyone feel appreciated, but putting all that into actions, . . . not so
much.
PS
And I think Iran’s nuclear program should be destroyed and the regime must be overthrown.
Lecture Notes
09-29-12
Kobar Towers List of the Dead19 CAUSES FOR WAR: | Staff Sgt. Daniel B. Cafourek | Watertown, South Dakota | Eglin AFB, Florida | | Sgt. Millard D.
Campbell | Angelton, Texas | Eglin AFB, Florida | | Senior Airman Earl F. Carrette Jr. | Sellersburg, Indiana | Eglin AFB, Florida | | Tech Sgt. Patrick
P. Fennig | Greendale, Wisconsin | Eglin AFB, Florida | | Master Sgt. Kendall K.J. Kitson | Yukon, Oklahoma | Eglin AFB, Florida | | Airmen 1st Class
Brian W. McVeigh | Debary, Florida | Eglin AFB, Florida | | Airman 1st Class Brent E. Marthaler | Cambridge, Minnesota | Eglin AFB, Florida | | Airman 1st Class
Peter J. Morgera | Stratham, New Hampshire | Eglin AFB, Florida | | Tech. Sgt. Thanh V. Nguyen | Panama City, Florida | Eglin AFB, Florida | | Airmen 1st Class
Joseph E. Rimkus | Edwardsville, Illinois | Eglin AFB, Florida | | Senior Airman Jeremy A. Taylor | Rosehill, Kansas | Eglin AFB, Florida | | Airmen 1st Class
Joshua E. Woody | Corning, California | Eglin AFB, Florida | | Capt. Christopher J. Adams | Massapequa Park, New York | Patrick AFB, Florida | | Capt. Leland T.
Haun | Clovis,
California | Patrick AFB, Florida | | Master Sgt. Michael G. Heiser | Palm Coast, Florida | Patrick AFB, Florida | | Staff Sgt. Kevin
J. Johnson | Shreveport, Louisiana | Patrick AFB, Florida | | Airman 1st Class Justin R. Wood | Modesto, California | Patrick AFB, Florida | | Staff Sgt. Ronald
L. King | Battlecreek, Michigan | Offutt AFB, Nebraska | | Airmen 1st Class Christopher Lester | Pineville, West
Virginia | Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio | | Source: The Pentagon |
PS And I think Iran’s nuclear program should be destroyed and the regime must
be overthrown.
Lecture Notes 9-27-12
To: Condoleezza Rice
Subject: Strongmen
Condoleezza Rice: We didn’t make the
mistake of installing a strongman in Iraq. We didn’t make that mistake.
Don Imus: Who said that? Who said we should install
a strongman? What is she talking about?
Note:
The Prince of Jordan recommended that the US install a strongman.
Note: I also was thinking of General Douglas MacArthur the American Shogun of Japan when I recommended
to President George W. Bush a “strongman.” General Douglas MacArthur was an American strongman,
who also wrote the Japanese Constitution, which is still in use. If you are not going to do any preliminary
steps before going into the country then you need someone to take charge, take command. Instead we had
a series of boards selected at random. By my count we went through three separate “governing boards.”
This did not instill confidence into the ranks of the New Iraqi Army. Next time Condoleezza contact
me directly we don’t need Imus In The Morning.
PS And I think Iran’s nuclear program should be destroyed and the regime
must be overthrown.
"Savvy Strongmen" --- CNN.com
9-26-12
Lecture Notes 9-23-12
To: Mr.
Romney
Subject: In the Defense of the One Percent.
A new class is forming
world wide. I call it the New Middle Class.
The British first used
the term, middle class, to describe the class which occupied the place below the Landed Aristocracy yet still above the working
classes both white collar and blue collar. In America when we discuss the middle class we mean the most
numerous class. There is not the same awareness of classes as the British identify.
Americans include just about everyone who is working, from plumbers to lawyers, in the middle
class. It is virtually a mathematically determined category.
It is this British concept of middle class that I am thinking of when I defend the One Percent.
This One Percent is above the upper class (and middle class) but below the so called New Class of government leaders,
and the menagerie of toadies and hanger-ons, including the lobbyists, journalists, and power brokers.
My defense of the One Percent can be stated in just one sentence. Would
you rather have Mr. Obama in charge of Bill Gates’ estate? Do you want all the power to be located
in the hands of the New Class who already control the vast apparatus of the modern state?
By inserting into our society the One Percent we create a new power center to counter balance
the power of the state. These One Percenters, most of whom are very savvy characters,
can compete with the state in carrying out new programs and projects that are beneficial to our society.
Take for example Bill Gates’ investments in research for a cure of Malaria. The state
could have lead the way on Malaria but the New Class wasn’t interested. These One Percenters as I
have said are very savvy and form not only an alternative center for action in the world but an alternative perspective to
see what is needed in both private and government affairs.
It has been argued that this New Middle
Class uses its wealth to manipulate the state for their own and sole benefit. It is true some have
used the state to manipulate the market. Mr. Slim in Mexico for example. This would
argue for the Republican Party’s stance that the state should stand at arms length and let the market determine winners
and losers not for the Democrats stance that the New Middle Class should be taxed out of existence.
For reasons explained
elsewhere, without wage and price controls, the New Middle Class will respond to higher taxes by transferring the higher taxes
via the price mechanism on to their customers. Remember the One Percenters are rich
because they offer goods or services that are in high demand. This demand allows the One Percenters
to transfer their costs, including taxes, on to their consumers. Unless wage and price controls
are applied there is no limit to what the One Percenters can charge.
When we say someone
is rich what we mean is that their goods and services are in high demand. Most of us have a more limited
ability to pass on our costs including taxes, because the goods and services we offer are in less demand,
meaning that we must absorb some costs including taxes.
The poor are poor because
the goods and services they offer are in low demand. The poor have a low ability to transfer their costs
including taxes.
The One Percenters’ goods and services are in high demand perhaps
in part because they reduce the number of people in the middle or the poor classes that are needed by their customers.
Mr. Ellison for example may supply Oracle products and services that reduce the number of accountants (middle class)
and file clerks (poor class) needed by his customers.
And this may cause you to think we should
tax the One Percenters. But without wage and price controls the high demand for their goods and services
will allow the One Percenters to pass on their taxes to the other classes who have lower demand for their goods and services.
The One Percent pay 40% of the national income tax. Where do you think the One Percent gets the
money to pay these taxes? From the other classes via the price mechanism.
This is the real reason why taxes should be kept as low as possible, because taxes settle into
society on those with the lowest ability to pass on costs to customers: the poor.
The New Middle Class may be involved in the process of creative destruction, which negatively affects the other classes
but this is inevitable and certainly taxing them will not change a thing. Or do you think technological
progress should be outlawed?
Republicans have long argued that corporate taxes are passed on by the companies
to their customers through the price mechanism. This is certainly true for successful companies, those
whose goods and services are in high demand. But if this is true for companies why should we be surprised
that the New Middle Class can also pass on its taxes and other costs?
PS
And I think Iran’s nuclear program should be destroyed and the regime must be overthrown.
Lecture
Notes
9-17-12
To: Mr. Romney
Subject: The First Policy is the Economy, but it is not the only Policy.
I am a
Republican because I recognize that the first policy of government must be to get the economy right.
If you do not get the economy right none of the other policies matter. However the difference between the two political parties with respect
to the economy has narrowed in recent years. And not just in America but in Britain as well.
The so called New Labor Party represents an open acknowledgement that the Socialist Dreams have been replaced by economic
realism.
Since
Billy Clinton lead the Democrats back to the center on the economy, the debate between the two Parties
turns less on economics and more on the other issues which divide us. For example welfare had been for at least three generations thought by Democrats as
an alternative or substitute to gainful participation in the economy. Welfare
reform under Billy Clinton is another open acknowledgement that welfare was no substitute for work. Both
Parties had come to see that the culture of welfare was ruinous to the human spirit.
(As I understand the position of Doctor Professor Senator Daniel
Patrick Moynihan on welfare reform, it came down to one issue: will we guarantee the children of welfare
absolute protection? Dr. Gingrich is the only political leader to answer Dr. Moynihan’s position.
Dr. Gingrich offered the idea of creating orphanages. (I had previously recommended we call orphanages
“24 hour schools,” as a more up to date term.) But Billy Clinton turned
a blind eye on the plight of the children of welfare. No guarantees for the children were forthcoming.
They “rolled over Moynihan” as one administration staffer said.)
But the fact remains that before welfare reform the Republican
Party held the leading position on that issue and the culture of dependency . The Democrats
for over three generations aligned themselves with that poisonous culture of welfare. (The
recent movie Precious showed the lives of welfare recipients.) However, the point I am making is strategic:
as the Democrats move to the center the argument for Republicans grows weaker.
Had the Republicans followed Dr. Gingrich’s suggestion the
Republicans could have once again taken the moral high ground by offering 24 hour schools for troubled youths.
There are 19,000 children in New York City's homeless shelters. You may feel that these
are just part of the 47% who are dependent on the government and you don’t care about them.
However, the 5% to 10% you identify as being in the center and who may be amenable to our arguments are concerned
about the homeless, and about the 50 million without health insurance coverage, and about the 23 million
unemployed or under employed or just too discouraged to look for work, and 47 million on food stamps.
If
you want to persuade the middle 10% you must concern yourself with the bottom 47% for the middle 10% of
voters are looking at how you would treat “the least of them,” before giving you their vote.
PS And I think the Iranian nuclear program should be destroyed and the
regime must be overthrown.
www.NewRuskinCollege.com
Lecture Notes 9-16-12
To: Mr. Romney
Subject: Israel justified in
using nuclear weapons on Iranian targets.
Israel
has always said it would not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons into the Middle East. There is no
doubt that the Iranians are in the process of introducing nuclear weapons. Thus if Israel
strikes Iran with nuclear weapons it will be in retaliation of Iran decision to go ahead with its nuclear
weapon program. Israel will not have been the first to introduce nuclear weapons.
It should be recalled that the Korean War was brought to an end
because of General-President Eisenhower’s secret threat to resort to nuclear weapons if the Chinese did not agree to
stop the war. They did not agree to peace only to an end of hostilities. The threat of nuclear weapons has not deterred Iran’s rulers thus far.
This fact alone should inform our evaluation of the Iranian intentions.
Even
now, before they have acquired nuclear weapons, they are willing to expose their subjects to nuclear attack. (Fortunately
most Iranian nuclear weapons targets are buried deep in the ground along way from populated areas.)
If the Iranians are willing to brave nuclear attack now, before they have nuclear weapons, why should we believe they
will not expose their subjects to attack when they do have them? Numerous Iranian officials have said that
whereas the Muslims can survive a nuclear attack the Jewish State can not.
Some have argued that an attack would only set back the Iranian nuclear program for
a few years. First it should be noted that a few years seems a blessing to the condemned.
Wouldn’t you take a few years reprieve? Secondly, this contention argues for more action by
Israel not less.
In addition to taking out the Iranian nuclear weapons targets
Israel should take out additional targets to assist the people of Iran to take back their country. For example, tactical nuclear weapons could be used to destroy Iran’s one and
only oil refinery. Iran’s import and export oil docks should also be destroyed. Electro
Magnetic Pulse weapons should be used on the main urban targets. Water works and sewer systems should
also be destroyed. And every attempt should be made to decapitate the regimes leaders.
The city of Qom itself could lawfully be destroyed as it is the seat of the regimes leaders.
Have we forgotten that in WWII and Korea and even
in Vietnam we thought laying waste to cities was an acceptable and lawful means of war?
Or is it only gentiles who are allowed to fight
wars this way? Of course, conventional weapons could be used if the US were to support our ally.
PS And I think the Iranian nuclear
program should be destroyed and the regime must be overthrown.
Lecture Notes
September
13, 2012
To: Mr. Romney
Subject: Community Organizers
As a former community organizer, (two years with Volunteers In Service To America), I
think I can explain the difference between a corporate manager and a community organizer. Corporate
managers seek resolutions of problems. But the last thing a community organizer wants is a solution to
the problems faced by his community. The community organizer uses problems to rally his community.
If the problem is resolved then the community organizer must start all over again trying to find a way to motivate
his “community” to organize around some new problem.
You
could call this leading from behind.
Mr.
Obama was criticized for allowing the House and Senate to write the Medical Reform Bill by themselves. He
lead from behind because he was not focusing on solving the Health Problem. Rather his goal was to organize
around the Health Problem. He wanted the issue not the solution.
Why did he demand another $400 billion at the last minute of negotiations of the budget
with the Speaker of the House? He didn’t want a solution to the budget he wanted the issue.
Why doesn’t he raise the quota on immigration from Mexico from the current 250,000 to a higher level?
Again he wants the issue to organize in this case the “Hispanic Community.”
He
knows as well as you that the Social Security System and Medicare are doomed unless action is taken. But
whereas you layout plans to solve this problem the Community Organizer in the Oval Room is using the fear of the elderly community
to organize them into a political force. Never
the solution always the issues.
PS And I think
the Iranian nuclear program should be destroyed and the regime must be overthrown.
Lecture
Notes: September 8, 2012
To:
Mr. Romney
Subject:
Believe what they tell you.
The most common statement from survivors of the Holocaust was: “When the dictator says he
is going to kill you --- believe him!” The Iranian leaders must be believed.
They will exterminate the State of Israel if they are given a chance.
Believe them. And remember a state of war exists between the United States and Iran. Iran invaded the sovereign
territory of the United States: The embassy in Teheran.
PS
And I think the Iranian nuclear program should be destroyed and the regime must be overthrown.
August 31, 2011 "Shattered man" KGO --- Message heard understood acknowledged
August 29, 2011 America Elects
The last time I was involved in politics I was targeted by Don
Imus and Michael Weiner (AKA Michael Savage). Howard Fineman, Chris Matthews, the late Tim Russert, Mark Shields, many
others knew about the harassment but did nothing to help or even condemn the burglary, the stalking, the interference with
employment all the rest. What
I learned form the experience: Now I know why the world is heading for 11 billion, on a warming planet, a living hell.
If all this can happen to me for just writing some letters to the U. S. Senate about the importance of laser disks in education,
the importance of self paced computer assisted education, then what are the chances of effecting really fundamental political
change?
OPINION
JULY 22, 2010
Diversity and the Myth of White Privilege
America still owes a debt to its black citizens, but government
programs to help all 'people of color' are unfair. They should end.
By JAMES WEBB
The NAACP believes the tea party is racist. The tea party
believes the NAACP is racist. And Pat Buchanan got into trouble recently by pointing out that if Elena Kagan is confirmed
to the Supreme Court, there will not be a single Protestant Justice, although Protestants make up half the U.S. population
and dominated the court for generations.
Forty years ago, as the United States experienced the civil
rights movement, the supposed monolith of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant dominance served as the whipping post for almost every
debate about power and status in America. After a full generation of such debate, WASP elites have fallen by the wayside and
a plethora of government-enforced diversity policies have marginalized many white workers. The time has come to cease the
false arguments and allow every American the benefit of a fair chance at the future.
I have dedicated my political career to bringing fairness
to America's economic system and to our work force, regardless of what people look like or where they may worship. Unfortunately,
present-day diversity programs work against that notion, having expanded so far beyond their original purpose that they now
favor anyone who does not happen to be white.
In an odd historical twist that all Americans see but few
can understand, many programs allow recently arrived immigrants to move ahead of similarly situated whites whose families
have been in the country for generations. These programs have damaged racial harmony. And the more they have grown, the less
they have actually helped African-Americans, the intended beneficiaries of affirmative action as it was originally conceived.
How so?
Lyndon Johnson's initial program for affirmative action
was based on the 13th Amendment and on the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which authorized the federal government to take actions
in order to eliminate "the badges of slavery." Affirmative action was designed to recognize the uniquely difficult journey
of African-Americans. This policy was justifiable and understandable, even to those who came from white cultural groups that
had also suffered in socio-economic terms from the Civil War and its aftermath.
The injustices endured by black Americans at the hands
of their own government have no parallel in our history, not only during the period of slavery but also in the Jim Crow era
that followed. But the extrapolation of this logic to all "people of color"—especially since 1965, when new immigration
laws dramatically altered the demographic makeup of the U.S.—moved affirmative action away from remediation and toward
discrimination, this time against whites. It has also lessened the focus on assisting African-Americans, who despite a veneer
of successful people at the very top still experience high rates of poverty, drug abuse, incarceration and family breakup.
Those who came to this country in recent decades from Asia,
Latin America and Africa did not suffer discrimination from our government, and in fact have frequently been the beneficiaries
of special government programs. The same cannot be said of many hard-working white Americans, including those whose roots
in America go back more than 200 years.
Contrary to assumptions in the law, white America is hardly
a monolith. And the journey of white American cultures is so diverse (yes) that one strains to find the logic that could lump
them together for the purpose of public policy.
The clearest example of today's misguided policies comes
from examining the history of the American South.
The old South was a three-tiered society, with blacks and hard-put whites both dominated by white elites
who manipulated racial tensions in order to retain power. At the height of slavery, in 1860, less than 5% of whites in the
South owned slaves. The eminent black historian John Hope Franklin wrote that "fully three-fourths of the white people in
the South had neither slaves nor an immediate economic interest in the maintenance of slavery."
The Civil War devastated the South, in human and economic
terms. And from post-Civil War Reconstruction to the beginning of World War II, the region was a ravaged place, affecting
black and white alike.
In 1938, President Franklin Roosevelt created a national
commission to study what he termed "the long and ironic history of the despoiling of this truly American section." At that
time, most industries in the South were owned by companies outside the region. Of the South's 1.8 million sharecroppers, 1.2
million were white (a mirror of the population, which was 71% white). The illiteracy rate was five times that of the North-Central
states and more than twice that of New England and the Middle Atlantic (despite the waves of European immigrants then flowing
to those regions). The total endowments of all the colleges and universities in the South were less than the endowments of
Harvard and Yale alone. The average schoolchild in the South had $25 a year spent on his or her education, compared to $141
for children in New York.
Generations of such deficiencies do not disappear overnight,
and they affect the momentum of a culture. In 1974, a National Opinion Research Center (NORC) study of white ethnic groups
showed that white Baptists nationwide averaged only 10.7 years of education, a level almost identical to blacks' average of
10.6 years, and well below that of most other white groups. A recent NORC Social Survey of white adults born after World War
II showed that in the years 1980-2000, only 18.4% of white Baptists and 21.8% of Irish Protestants—the principal ethnic
group that settled the South—had obtained college degrees, compared to a national average of 30.1%, a Jewish average
of 73.3%, and an average among those of Chinese and Indian descent of 61.9%.
Policy makers ignored such disparities within America's
white cultures when, in advancing minority diversity programs, they treated whites as a fungible monolith. Also lost on these
policy makers were the differences in economic and educational attainment among nonwhite cultures. Thus nonwhite groups received
special consideration in a wide variety of areas including business startups, academic admissions, job promotions and lucrative
government contracts.
Where should we go from here? Beyond our continuing obligation
to assist those African-Americans still in need, government-directed diversity programs should end.
Nondiscrimination laws should be applied equally among
all citizens, including those who happen to be white. The need for inclusiveness in our society is undeniable and irreversible,
both in our markets and in our communities. Our government should be in the business of enabling opportunity for all, not
in picking winners. It can do so by ensuring that artificial distinctions such as race do not determine outcomes.
Memo to my fellow politicians: Drop the Procrustean policies
and allow harmony to invade the public mindset. Fairness will happen, and bitterness will fade away.
Mr. Webb, a Democrat, is a U.S. senator from Virginia.
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