Equality (Fred Speaking)
						MAIN PATH: Ann
		Ann					Dee

I don't agree with Dee's libertarian position here. She would ban racial discrimination in hiring by governmental bodies but not by private employers. Libertarians believe that private employers should have the right to discriminate on the basis of race if they wish.

According to the libertarian definition, this approach does provide equal opportunity because it contains no legal restrictions like the old Jim Crow laws. On the other hand, it leaves private power intact. And believe it or not, this is a case in which I agree with Vera. Well, up to a point. As a Burkean conservative I believe that we must sometimes adopt new policies to deal with problems that threaten social stability and persistently resist market or other voluntary solutions. In my view, racial discrimination is so strongly rooted in our society that market incentives and voluntary actions will not prevail against it in the foreseeable future. Therefore, it is appropriate to take modest measures to restrict private parties at strategic points. The proper solution is to outlaw discrimination on the basis of race in hiring. We did this in 1964 and as a conservative I support it. I think that change was of strategic importance and fully justified. But to go further in restricting private parties, as Vera and Malik hope to do, would be unnecessary and therefore unwarranted.

The equality of opportunity that this policy promotes is roughly this: people of different races and colors are equally likely to get hired if they have the same skills. For me, that's equality of opportunity.

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