Nebraska does away with affirmative action, more states to follow

A Nebraska judge on Thursday rejected a lawsuit that challenged the petition that led to a statewide ban on affirmative action.

Voters approved the initiative in November, after opponents of the effort filed the lawsuit in Lancaster County District Court.

The constitutional amendment never uses the words “affirmative action.” But it prohibits state and local governments from giving preferential treatment to people on the basis of race, sex, ethnicity or national origin.

HDN

Just to keep this race-blind: imagine that Nebraska were inhabited by two groups, Frenchmen and Finns.

The Finns, a minority, are subsidized by the state because they are a minority. This is assumed to address inequality of opportunity.

However, thirty years later, Finns are still in roughly the same economic position, and affirmative action causes problems because the law doesn't recognize that someone can be both Finnish AND incompetent.

So the state looks at the law, and thinks: we're in a never-ending cycle where we punish our people for being successful, AND it hasn't helped the Finns. Yank the chain on this stupid idea.

This eliminates layers of bureaucracy designed to enforce the law, makes hiring and firing clearer and easier, and lets each person find his or her level of competence.

In addition, it encourages an exodus of those -- French and Finnish alike -- who are less competent and want to go somewhere where affirmative action either requires they be hired, or lowers the bar on performance so they can feel comfortable.

In other words, while other states are fighting yesterday's battles, Nebraska is gearing up to become more competitive. Look for other states to do this, especially as the Baby Boomer false wealth Ponzi tsunami passes under our modern society's feet, because without all the extra wealth, they're going back to basics.

And that means get competitive and let the gods worry about whether it was fair or not.