The problem with instituting any new law into a government that has already gotten too big, is that once it’s on the books it takes a literal act of Congress to remove it.  Case in point – affirmative action.  In 1961, as the country writhed and undulated under the strain of all kinds of civil rights issues, President John F. Kennedy signed into effect Executive Order 10925 which established what would become the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  This was the beginning of the affirmative action push.  And so it was very much needed at the time.  Racial, religious and gender discrimination abounded in a country experiencing coming-of-age growing pains.

Half a century later, many regard affirmative action laws as an unnecessary 10:00 p.m. curfew on a nation that has grown up.  America has outgrown her need for such strict guidance from the nanny state.  Though there will always be fringe elements of racial bigotry, misogyny, or religious intolerance, by and large America has grown into a country that values employees, students, and club members by their own personal merit and not by “race, gender, religion or national origin”.  America has outgrown her need for affirmative action laws.

Besides that, quota-based hiring and college acceptance guidelines based on affirmative action laws, have resulted in reverse discrimination cases.  In these cases, members of a majority group have felt discriminated against when they have lost jobs or a spot in a university to a less-qualified member of a minority group. 

Quota systems are technically illegal, but may be hard to circumvent when corporations must prove they are adhering to affirmative action laws.  The bottom line is that, though we live in an imperfect world, employers and college admission staffs must turn a blind eye to race, gender, religion and national origin and must, as affirmative action laws and moral obligation demand, provide opportunity to those who most qualify based on individual merit.