Category Archives: morality

Compelling Interest and Racism

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The Wall Street Journal‘s editors correctly decry President Joe Biden’s (D) race-based “equity” programs and diktats as taking our nation back to an ugly past.

By equity, Mr Biden means preferences for some racial groups over others to achieve equal outcomes.

And

Mr Biden sells his agenda as taking America into the future. But allocating government funds or privileges by race is a step back to an uglier past. … If applied on the scale Mr Biden hopes, America would become a nation of groups competing for racial spoils and defined outcomes rather than seeking equal opportunity for everyone.

The editors added this near the end of their piece, and here I demur from them.

Strict scrutiny requires that the government have a compelling interest for discriminating by race, and that it must use the least restrictive means to achieve that interest. If less restrictive ways can achieve the same purpose, the policy fails.

There shouldn’t be any strict scrutiny on such matters; the policies should fail on their face. There’s nothing in the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protections clause that permits Government-determined “compelling interest” to override our Constitution [emphasis added].

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

All of that plainly applies to our Federal government every bit as much as it does to each of the governments of the several States.

The Strict Scrutiny standard, as applied here, has been unconstitutional from the start and was an earlier Supreme Court attempt to duck its responsibility in applying our Constitution rather than seeking out excuses and methodologies for getting outside of it.

Government’s compelling interest is to defend and uphold our Constitution.

Full stop.

Also Too Weak

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Recall that President Joe Biden (D) came before the American people and touted a bipartisan infrastructure deal, to the tune of $1.2 trillion.

Recall, further, that barely two hours later, Biden again came before us all and said he would refuse to sign that deal unless and until he had, at the same time, a reconciliation-passed bill that had everything in it that was not included in the bipartisan “deal.”

Now Biden is back before us all, saying he’ll sign the bipartisan “deal” and then work on getting further bills passed that have everything in them that he wants.

So—which time was he lying: the first time, speaking from his heart when he said he’d refuse to sign the bipartisan bill unless he got the reconciliation bill with everything else in it, also, or the second time when he was speaking politically, to cover his political behind?

Or: was he simply engaging in the Biden Flip-Flop and speaking in whichever way gives him the most personal political advantage?

Or: does he not truly understand the situation for longer than a few hours?

Under any of those alternatives, Biden’s word is worthless, his commitments entirely unreliable. Any further negotiation with Biden will be just a waste of effort. Any Republican who takes anything Biden says seriously after this—and that particularly includes Senator Rob Portman (R, OH)—is simply exposing himself as wholly gullible.

A Right to be Racist

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Recall the Biden administration’s farm loan relief program that the Department of Agriculture had set up to provide loan relief to black and brown farmers while explicitly excluding white farmers.

Recall further that

Judge William Griesbach found in an order issued Thursday [10 Jun] that the white farmers “are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim” that the US Department of Agriculture’s “use of race-based criteria in the administration of the program violates their right to equal protection under the law.”

The Ag Department rejects that ruling:

We respectfully disagree with this temporary order and USDA will continue to forcefully defend our ability to carry out this act of Congress and deliver debt relief to socially disadvantaged borrowers.

Here are Progressive-Democrats forcefully defending their self-created right to be racist in their governance of our nation.

This is despicable, and it needs to be remembered throughout the fall of 2022, and beyond.

A Question

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…was asked.

What do you think is the most effective way for companies to support diversity initiatives?

…and answered, by yours truly.

Stop carrying out diversity initiatives. Those are just unserious virtue-signaling nonsense.

Instead, businesses (among other entities) support and/or carry out their own training programs, and they should support K-12 charter, voucher, private school education, so as to build over time a population of qualified adults that is reflective of the population at large.

From that diverse population of qualified individuals, then select and hire based on merit rather than on virtue signals.

Domestic Terror Threats

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President Joe Biden (D) and his administration have a new strategy—and specific (more or less) targets—for combating domestic terrorism. “Domestic terrorism” is defined by the NSC:

activities that involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State; appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and occur primarily within the jurisdiction of the United States.

And

[D]omestic terrorists] espouse a range of violent ideological motivations [including] racial or ethnic bigotry and hatred, as well as anti-government or anti-authority sentiment. … exhort[] and target[] violence toward specific communities …. militias.

Who are Biden’s domestic terrorists [paraphrased by Fox News]?

White supremacy and “militia violent extremists” currently present the “most persistent and lethal threats.”

No mention of antifa, which assaults government facilities with a view to burning them down or otherwise destroying them. Antifa also routinely assaults others who object to their destruction, including police, civilians, anyone actually taking pictures or filming antifa persons or their activities, even journalists.

No mention of BLM, which freely riots, loots, burns down private businesses, especially targeting small mom and pops.

Biden made it explicit:

Domestic terrorism—driven by hate, bigotry, and other forms of extremism—is a stain on the soul of America….

Unless, of course, it’s antifa, BLM, and the like on the Left. They are exempted, their behavior excused.

Of course Biden—and his Party—won’t name antifa or BLM or the like as domestic terrorists, regardless of their activities intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion…by mass destruction.

Those entities are grassroots supporters of Party.