Ending Racial Preferences This November

Ballot Initiative Alert from AZ, CO, and NE:

Three states have certified inititiaves for the November 4th ballot that would ban racial preferences and ethnic discrimination. Arizona, Colorado, and Nebraska have "Civil Rights Initiatives" on the ballot that would end preferential treatment based on race for public employment, public education, and public contracting. Predictably, lawsuits have been filed by affirmative action proponents to keep these measures off the ballot.

The American Civil Rights Institute, founded by Ward Connerly and Dusty Rhodes, have sponsored and helped set up these statewide campaigns in Arizona, Colorado, and Nebraska. They have been similarly successful in California, where it passed with 54% of the vote in 1996, and Michigan, where it passed with 58% of the vote in 2006.

Visit this blog which promotes Super Tuesday for Civil Rights.

A Wall Street Journal op-ed from late April by Harry Stein makes an interesting point:

"Though the racial-preference ballot measures are officially nonpartisan, they stand to make a dramatic impact on the fall campaign. With the question of racial preferences effectively nationalized by its presence on multiple state ballots, neither party's presidential candidate will be able to evade the issue. While this might pose a dilemma for Mr. McCain -- who, like most Republicans, has long shied away from the topic and might worry about jeopardizing Hispanic support -- it could be catastrophic for Mr. Obama. As Mr. Connerly says, 'This is a guy who's tried awfully hard for a long time not to appear what he is -- just another left-winger who supports preferences.'"

I'm not sure that Stein's electoral analysis works. Did the marriage amendments and ballot initiatives create increased social-conservative turnout in certain states in the past to help presidential and statewide congressional candidates? Sure. I'm not so sure that the civil rights initiatives will do the same, because it will probably galvanize both sides of the affirmative action crowd equally. But if Stein's analysis is correct, helping to compete in a swing state like Colorado and securing a traditionally red state like Nebraska where Obama is playing small-ball for it's divided electoral votes.

In response to the multiple posts on racism and Jesse Helms: ending racial preferences is something that could be a galavinizing issue for right the next generation of both "Spring-Aheads" and "Fall-Backers", as described by John Zogby. I believe that the next generation of "super-voters" of all ethnicities, both over- and under-represented, will want to move beyond affirmative action.

Public institutions of higher education have been the focus, but the initiatives go in the right direction by targeting public employment and contracting. When it comes to education, socioeconomically-based preference programs might be the answer. Even some African-Americans are starting to support the end of racial preference programs, like Professor Stephen Carter of Yale, who said the following in a NTY op-ed on Sunday:

"University affirmative action programs, whatever their benefits, are no remedy for the problems of the black poor. Perhaps this is why Barack Obama has questioned publicly whether his children should benefit from them and also why leading voices on the black left — Cornel West comes to mind — have proposed that college admissions programs give preferential consideration based on economic class."

BOTTOM LINE: Support the Civil Rights Initiatives in AZ, CO, and NE. And start thinking about how the next conservative movement can create a broad coalition that moves beyond race.

- MM