NPI Analysis: Abolish Affirmative Action

NPI Analysis: Abolish Affirmative Action

Repeal Executive Order 11246: “Unnecessary
burden of direct and indirect costs to taxpayers;
undercuts merit-based employment practices.”
MCLEAN, VIRGINIA — In a review of “affirmative action” policies,
researcher and statistician Edwin Rubenstein declares that a rollback
of race and gender preferences “may be one of the most
efficient pro-growth policies available to the federal government.”
In an NPI Analysis paper entitled “Affirmative Action and
the Costs of ‘Diversity’: Racial Preferences Thrive Under Bush
Administration” (#100; published by the National Policy Institute
and available at its website, WWW.NATIONALPOLICYINSTITUTE.ORG),
the author explains that affirmative action programs:
• put a cloud over minority workers who have
advanced because of their innate ability.
• reduce incentives of both groups to perform at
their best— the preferred because they don’t have to,
the non-preferred because extra effort seems futile.
• increase incentives to hire illegal immigrants who
cannot sue for alleged EEOC violations.
• force employers to spend billions on compliance
instead of productive investments, thereby reducing
employment opportunities for all groups.
The author points out that raw political power is fueling the affirmative action agenda:
Reverse discrimination is the law of the land. To affirmative action ideologues, however, it’s “pay back”
time, when white American males must atone for their alleged economic advantages—even if they grew up
poor. “White males are the only growth area for the modern victim movement,” says John Leo, a contributing
editor at U.S. News and World Report. “Everybody else is covered.’” In typical Washington style, a program
designed to aid ‘disadvantaged minorities’ metastasizes into a near-universal entitlement. Is there a method to
this madness? You bet: By casting a wide affirmative action net the federal government has vastly increased
political support for such programs.

FOR RELEASE: Friday, September 30, 2005
CONTACT: Peter B. Gemma, Media Director
703-442-0558
pbg@nationalpolicyinstitute.org

http://nationalpolicyinstitute.org/p...tiveaction.pdf