The Supreme Court may soon rule in favor of an applicant to the University of Texas who claims she was rejected due to race-based affirmative action quotas. While it’s obviously unfair to discriminate against, say, a poor white student, we’re ignoring the broader issue: why is college tuition so expensive in the United States that it’s a scarce resource fought over between people of different races?
Affirmative Action Keeps Things Interesting
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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Make something free and it becomes worth every penny you pay for it.
So that ‘s why so many dufusses pay to drink city tap water out of corporate filled plastic bottles.
Ha, ha, ha…
Seriously, take a gander at our “free” K-12 public education system and then at the results it typically accomplishes. Universities should be for those who care about furthering themselves rather than being seen as an entitlement handed out. You might suppose that very high standards might be applied to those getting into college (as they ought to be) but effort is anathema to the American Left so that won’t last long and it will devolve into the mess PE is now.
Millions of years of evolution, nearly a quarter-millennium since the words WE THE PEOPLE were written larger than any others on a certain page – and some people still don’t get it.
If you don’t want to work together for the common good, nobody is forcing you. Throw off everything you got from society (including your worthless public school education), and go live ignorant, alone and naked on the African savanna. See how long you last.
You know, you could always scoot off to Cuba, the People’s Republic of China or North Korea if *you’re* not happy here (if we’re going that route). Why ruin this country while Paradise awaits?
I’m fascinated by people like «Fleming Balzac», who, when education issues in the United States are discussed, point to models like «Cuba, the People’s Republic of China or North Korea», which they presumably have never visited and about which they know nothing. On the other hand, «Know Nothingism» has historically played a significant role in US politics and judging from the current situation, may well do so again ; perhaps «Fleming Balzac» will find employment as a Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs in a future US administration ?…
Henri
I’m in favor of freedom, democracy & the Constitution – you know, all those things rightards hate.
Henri, whatever benefits there might be in those countries aren’t free – they’re paid for by the loss of human rights and dignity. The lengths those countries go to keep people from leaving should be testament enough that it’s too high a price for paradise.
CrazyH, the US Constitution exists to limit government power and to provide tools and a framework for dealing with it when it exceeds those enumerated powers. Even the vaunted “general welfare” clause comes with a strict list of things the government may do to purse that mandate. Handouts aren’t on that list, I’m sorry to say. No free college, no free medicine and definitely no power to make people buy things they neither want or can’t afford.
As I said, «Fleming Balzac», I’m fascinated by people like yourself who seem compelled to inform others about countries they’ve never visited and of which they know nothing. OCD is the acronym generally given to this particular disorder….
Henri
Enlighten me, then…
I leave that particular task, «Fleming Balzac», to King Sisyphos…. 😉
Henri
“Handouts”? Who said anything about handouts? Even if I had, there is nothing in the Constitution to prevent them.
This is precisely my point: you folks want everything our society provides, yet you whine, bitch and moan when asked to chip in. Why should my taxes pay for the roads you drive on, or the fire department that comes when your house is on fire? Are you being “forced” to pay the taxes that also pay for those things when I need them? I see them as the price of admission – and if you don’t like it, you can leave. That’s freedom, baby.
Education is quite obviously good for the general welfare – but under our current system we have functional illiterates like Bush taking up space in our most prestigious universities. It would be much better for the common welfare if that seat were used by someone who could actually benefit our society.
Likewise medical care – under our current system, the CEOs of big pharma take home seven figure paychecks, yet you seem to have no problem giving them your money. Likewise your money goes to pay the salaries of the insurance company CEOs, as well as the salary of the guy whose job it is to deny your benefits.
If poor people can’t afford to get vaccinated, they are more likely to get sick. Which do you suppose costs more – a smallpox vaccination or a smallpox epidemic?
CrazyH – None of which is the concern of the federal government. If you thought Bush was bad, let’s see how you like the next republican president uses the power to compel private citizens to purchase things they don’t need. Why not? Or are you going to rediscover your appreciation of a government limited by enumerated powers?
Even if you’re not down with constitutional government, are you really comfortable with 500 people (and just a majority of those) making decisions for 350 million? Are you okay that a lot of those people come from places where those who elect them hold views inimical to yours? Leave that out and just think of the enormous backlog that’s piled up already (google it. It’s really enlightening). Giving them more power just makes that backlog worse – or they just pass (or stop) stuff without thinking. Add the bureaucracy that creates and you make the problem worse. Best to leave it where it was intended – the states and the people themselves.
Henri – I await the day where someone explains to me what socialism is without snide remarks, ignoring the volumes written by survivors like The Gulag Archipelago or My Testimony, pulling the No True Socialist card or otherwise evading the brutal nature of the philosophy.
@Phlegming Ballsac – oh, you were so close but I’m afraid you failed once again.
You forgot “Obama is a Muslim” and “Fluoridation is a Communist plot.”
Better luck next time!
I fear you will have to continue to wait for that enlightenment, «Fleming Balzac», since you so obviously have failed to read anything about socialism not written by opponents ,who, unlike yourself, seem to regard the use of «snide remarks» as legitimate. Educating the uneducable is, indeed, a Sisyphos task, and one in which I do not intend to partake….
But it is good to learn that you are/seem to be opposed to «brutality» ; one can’t but wonder if that opposition does not greatly depend upon just who is exercising that brutality….
Henri
Crazy, It’s oddly comforting that you’re okay with a creationist senator whose election you had absolutely no say in making decisions for you that will affect your day-to-day life. I guess, for you, so long as your decisions are made for you, it doesn’t matter who’s making them.
Henri – the acknowledgement that socialism is indefensible by rational people is the most honest thing I’ve heard. Thank you.
“okay with a creationist senator whose election you had absolutely no say in making decisions for you that will affect your day-to-day life.”
Certainly not the creationist part – I’ll leave superstitious nonsense to the rightards. But as for the rest, you’ve just described a democratic republic – so I ask again, if you hate America so much, why don’t you move elsewhere?
«… the acknowledgement that socialism is indefensible by rational people is the most honest thing I’ve heard.» Since the only such «acknowledgement» on this particular thread would seem to originate with yourself, «Fleming Balzac», I should question whether it can legitimately be said to come from a «rational» person. And given that you attempt to impute this «acknowledgement» of a falsehood to which you seem particularly partial to me, it indicates not merely your lack of rationality, but also your mendacity. So much for «rationality» and «honesty» ; you needn’t thank me for pointing out the obvious….
Henri
It’s pretty easy to see why it isn’t free, but more interesting to note that while people fight over “issues” like this, they don’t tend to notice bigger things, like the fact that they no longer live in much of a representative democracy – actually never really did, and probably never will, at the rate things are going…
Fortunately, Ted, here in Europe, where in most states university tuition is free, we manage to find other things to fight about, which is why life is not as boring as it otherwise might be….
Henri
We could end racism by the simple expedient of interbreeding until we are all one mocha-colored, brown-eyed race. (I’m willing to do my part!)
But as you say, should we do that we’d simply find some other insignificant difference to fight about.
«Fleming Balzac» –My only comment is that I do not understand how socialism is conflated with communism.
That’s pretty much the problem. Flaming BS has no clue, he – like most Americans – simply accepts what he’s been told by The Powers That Be.
He’ll never bother to do any research of his own, let alone question WHY those powers keep lying to him. He’ll just keep pickin’ dat cotton, convinced that one day he’ll own his own plantation.
See? The system works!