Quotas And Affirmative Action example essay topic

Politics is assuming command of the American economy in the form of pervasive "equal opportunity" enforcement. In today's society, All people are supposed to be equal and have equal rights, but in employment there is more discrimination now than ever before. American citizens need to do away with affirmative action so that American job opportunities can be based on merit and not on skin color or ethnicity. Laws have been passed, quotas have been established, and seemingly everything has been done to prevent discrimination. NOT SO! Instead of solving a problem these new laws and quotas have discriminated against the once over powering white male.

What happened to America being the land of opportunity? The general theory is if you work hard, and are the best qualified then you " ll get the job; but in today's work place this no longer the situation. Now, in order to be employed, qualifications do not always matter as much as the color of a person's skin or his / her ethnicity. In dealing with this subject, the first question that is always asked is " What's wrong with hiring a variety of African Americans, Hispanics, and women?" The answer is Nothing. The problem is not with hiring those from different ethnic groups, but when the most qualified of them gets the shaft because he / she is not of a certain ethnic or minority group. More and more white males are being discriminated against because they are not African American, Hispanic, or they don't have breast.

Affirmative Action, action in the form of quotas and special treatment for "protected classes", has resulted in a politicized process in which white males have been discriminated against. A 1994 poll shows that one out of every seven males has lost a promotion due to quotas. White males have become invisible victims because the idea of merit hiring has been subverted by politicized hiring, and that has left the white males defenseless against this open discrimination. This problem is only getting worse because America has more equal employment laws than any other country in the world (Counting Costs). Many companies are afraid of these laws, and the fear of political punishment makes quotas very hard to research. Companies go beyond what is required to avoid all legal issues, Xerox, one of many companies that uses quotas, states: "We have a process that we call balanced workforce".

At Xerox, all of the employees understand this policy, and it is measurable by its goods and relative numbers (Brimelow and Spencer). Sears and Roebuck Company spend 15 years and 20 millions dollars to defeat the E ECO discrimination suit. Sears prevailed because they were able to show proof of a voluntary quota program. Many companies cling to such programs as a future defense in federal courts, even if it means putting up with some unqualified and incompetent workers (Brimelow 77). Not only is affirmative action hurting white males, but also it's causing problems with the minorities that it's supposed to be helping. Many minorities are insulted that the government thinks they need special help to compete in the job market.

In contrast, some would also be extremely offended if this help would be taken away. Black police Chief Clarence Harmon was once an advocate of affirmative action until he realized the effect that it has had on his race. He has been quoted with saying that when he was going to school he enjoyed competing and keeping up with his white counter parts, but he now realizes that many times in the police academy, blacks students use affirmative action as a crutch. Black students have been found to score lower than the white students do. Harmon believes this is true because they do not think they have to work as hard, which produces less qualified black officers (Glastris 43). Carl Marx insisted that for any sort of class consciousness to arise, there must be communication of a common sense of oppression, but no one can feel this sense of oppression (Glastris 48).

The mass media rarely recognizes quotas, much less portrays white males sympathetically. "White males have been easily and silently victimized one by one" (Brimelow). With neither conservatives nor liberals making affirmative action big deal, a classic spiral of silence has occurred whereby people assume that their doubts are not shared and suppress them, thus mutually intimidating each other. People are left feeling that nobody will help them. Other problems include male psychology that "real men don't cry". Men would rather hold all their emotions inside than share them with friends and family (Brimelow 76).

Most people know that quotas do inurn hurt people; however, they do not know that quotas are illegal. The 1964 and 1991 civil rights acts explicitly banned government imposed quotas, but, nevertheless, they immediately spread through the economy. Although quotas are becoming more and more popular, there is incredible denial in the people's eyes (Brimelow 77). Affirmative action, while a regulatory burden, is not massive in scale. Supporters of affirmative action insist that the 1991 civil rights acts did not impose quotas, although its key points were to override the supreme court decision and make work force racial imbalance prima facia evidence of employer discrimination (Brimelow and Spencer). California's democratic representative Don Edwards, who is a mouthpiece of civil rights establishment, claimed on the New York Times opinion page that quotas did not exist.

This was said within three weeks after the Supreme Court ruled about them. Facts are facts; quotas and affirmative action are still harmful, and a big part of our workplace. Expense of imposing and complying with quotas and affirmative action is extremely expensive. In 1998, companies and organizations spent 300 billion dollars. The "opportunity cost", which is what the economy might have achieved without the misallocate affective quotas, amounted to at least 6% of the 1998 GNP (Gross National Product).

Which was an amount equivalent to that spent on public education that year (Brimelow and Spencer). The revelation of these figures is needed to show the dangers left politically motivated employment policies. Affirmative action hurts all Americans-white males, their families, the protected classes, and every other American-by hurting the economy. Affirmative action needs to be done away with so we can make America the great and fair country it once was. People once came to America to be free to work hard and earn a job. Will people now come because of their skin color or their sexuality?

Martin Luther King said that he would like to see the day in which his children were not judged because of their color, but because of the content of their character. Every time affirmative action is put into use, our countries is taking another step away from the good King's goals. All men are created equal...

Bibliography

Brimelow, Peter. Spiral of Silence. Forbes. 25 May 1992: 76-78.
Brimelow, Peter and Spencer, Leslie. "When quotas replace merit, everybody suffers". Forbes. 15 February 1999.
Counting Cost". Editorial, National Review. 15 February 1996.
Glastris, Paul. Black and Blue. U.S. News and World Report. 15 June 1995: 45-48.