Posted on 09/07/2001 12:46:01 PM PDT by rdf
Bush Backs Race Preferences
A trial balloon that deserves to pop.
The Bush administration yesterday gave the clearest indication yet of where it may go on race-conscious public policy — and the likely direction is not good. The Office of Management and Budget proposes, as part of a plan to outsource more of the work the federal government does, to increase set-aside contracts for small companies owned by non-whites and women. The proposal pits two Democratic constituencies against each other: federal employees desperate to keep their do-nothing jobs and racial minorities. So it may be clever politics. But it's also a bad idea that conservatives should oppose.
Last month, the Department of Justice filed a brief with the Supreme Court in support of a racial-contracting program run by the Department of Transportation. Many conservatives were disappointed by the move, but we argued at the time that this was not a fight worth picking — the stakes weren't especially high and the case allowed the Bush administration to keep its powder dry for a more meaningful engagement with the explosive issue of preferences later on.
The current proposal — which is not yet a formal policy — is much worse than the Adarand brief. The brief merely continued to back an existing program that the Department of Justice previously had defended. This proposal would actually create racial preferences where they do not now exist. This is probably illegal — something that Bush appointees in the Department of Justice would be able to say if they were being fully consulted on the matter. To make matters worse, it may not even be the Bush administration's first such move on race policy: The Department of Housing and Urban Development is in the midst of trying to increase the number of minority contractors it uses.
Even if these proposals are constitutional — and a lot of conservative legal scholars think they aren't — they would be offensive. The government should not grant opportunities to some people and exclude others on the basis of their skin color.
Outsourcing federal work is a good idea that will make government more efficient and save taxpayer dollars. It is worth supporting for this reason alone, and the administration ought to have enough confidence to defend it on these terms. Playing the race card instead is cowardly and nefarious. Conservatives should object when Republicans do it.
(For more details, see the Washington Post's coverage of this controversy.)
Now, he has to use a divide and conquer approach. If he can get the libs to bicker like we do, they won't be focussed on electing Dems next year or in 04. They will split votes with the Greens or else stay home out of anger. Either way, the GOP wins. He's working the same angle with the Unions on Energy versus the Enviro-whackos. He also could do it with the NEA versus the Blacks on school choice.
The thing that no one understands is that Bush is a Republican first (partially because he's the leader of the party and partially because he can claim some kind of "Republican" mandate, but hardly any of a "Conservative" mandate). He wants his party to succeed and that means that the most electable person wins offices. RINOs win office because Conservatives don't have enough strength to vote Conservatives into office. Consequently, Bush has to focus on getting Republicans (even RINOs) elected first, and getting Conservatives elected second. He can't even get his nominees for the executive branch confirmed! How is he supposed to be able to concentrate on leading some Conservative revolution?
Bush is selling out on all fronts -- education (vouchers in particular), affirmative action, immigration, private property protection (Klamath Basin), and embryonic stem cell research. His plan to use taxpayer money to fund private charities is an especially onerous proposal that will enmesh charities in federal red tape.
We need to throw the bumb out after his term's up before he does any more damage.
FABULOUS.
A lot of ticked off conservatives are going to teach Bush and his socialist-lite buddies a lesson in the next election.
FABULOUS.
FEARED, AND WARNED.
IGNORED.
Best to you,
Richard F.
Geez...wonder why I have been working to meet SBA quotas on small disadvantaged businesses for the last 15 years...probably because it is the LAW...
Federal Acquisition Regulation
19.702 Statutory Requirements
"Any contractor receiving a contract for more than the small purchase limitation in 13.000 [$500,00]shall agree in the contract that small business concerns and small disadvantaged business concerns shall have the maximum practicable opportunity to participate in contract performance consistent with its efficient performance."
And there are liquidated damages for "lack of good faith effort" to include small disadvantaged businesses and also for not meeting the quota set by the SBA.
Therefore, the statement made above is patently false. This is nothing new, it has been the law since 1988. Why Bush continues to support it is beyond me, so I will not defend it, I always thought it was a stupid program considering I live in Texas which has a mostly Hispanic population, but Hispanics are considered a minority by the SBA because the status is determined from national percentages rather than local population. I just wanted to make the clarification that this is not a new standard being set, it is merely a continuation of the same old policy.
Does anyone here believe R.N., rather than the Washington Post and the National Review?
Step right up ...
Richard F.
Best to you,
Richard F.
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