I suppose it’s time to write something about the recent US Supreme Court decisions. The high court of the land has in the past week ruled in favor of affirmative action (state-sanctioned racism) and now has stuck down laws against sodomy.
Regarding the affirmative action ruling, the court has sent minorities back a few steps by giving them an edge in (this time) getting into law schools because of the color of their skin. I don’t understand why more people of minority races are not infuriated by this. Some are upset, and the dissent was written by one Justice Clarence Thomas, still many are calling this a victory. How is this a victory? In little league baseball, you start out playing tee-ball, but when you grow older, you play the real game because you would look foolish, being that big and hitting a ball off a tee.
I think the tee ball analogy is adequate (if not rather corny) because being a minority does not equal being mentally deficient. Affirmative action programs demean minorities by saying that they can’t do it without special help. These programs take away the dignity that God gave all people and looks instead at their skin. Sounds like racism to me.
Now, regarding the ruling about the sodomy laws, I believe that this shows us just how communitarian the courts have become in their decisions. By communitarian, I mean that they make legal/moral judgments based upon the prevailing views of the surrounding community. Hence, it is popular today to say that whatever goes on behind closed doors is OK, therefore the court rules as such.
This is much different that the court ruling on something for a philosophical, theological, or even constitutional reason. Rulings based on these ideas are independent of community thought, and therefore much stronger. What does the court rule when most of the community thinks that all Jews should be gassed, or that every family should be limited to one child? The answer, of course, is that we would begin to look like a completely different society altogether.
I think that one of the strangest things about the Michigan case is this whole idea that affirmative action should end in 25 years, according to the court. I mean, really, is the Constitution going to be different in 2028? That’s absurd.
It’s also interesting that not every minority benefits from UM’s system–if you’re Asian or Middle Eastern, for example, you still have to fend for yourself, just like us poor white kids. What are they saying with that?