Affirmative action …has become a mighty engine of state injusticethat seeks to remedy the consequences of past racial sins and crimes,by committing new ones.
by Pat Buchanan
Having lost both houses of Congress and the White House in two straightelections, Republicans are going through an identity crisis, itsleaders holding town hall meetings to “listen” to the people.
“What should we focus on? Should we drop the social issues? How do we get the young people back?”
Such angst and soul-searching is not the mark of the leader, but the mark of a man suffering from doubt and despair.
Why is the party in trouble? Simple. Dubya got a hold of the keys, gothigh on neocon hooch, and crashed and rolled the family SUV.[snip]
How does the party reconnect with Middle America? How does it win back the Reagan Democrats who went home disgusted?
Become again the party of Frank Ricci.
And who is Frank Ricci?
Heis a fireman in New Haven, Conn., with 11 years in the department, whosuffers from dyslexia, but nonetheless has pursued his dream ofbecoming a lieutenant and a captain.
Six months before thepromotion test, Ricci quit his second job. He bought $1,000 worth ofthe textbooks he was told to study, had a friend read them onto tapesto compensate for his dyslexia, studied every spare hour he got, andsat for the test, to compete for one of eight lieutenant slots open.
Frank made it. Frank Ricci came in sixth.
Itwas after the results of the test were made known that the problemsarose. For, of the officers who had made the cut, all were white,except for one Latino.