Plain English vs. A Bureaucrat's English
The Missouri Civil Rights Initiative's (MoCRI) proposed language for its November 2008 ballot measure, which has been approved by the Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan:
Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to prohibit any form of discrimination as an act of the state by declaring: The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting?
Language for the ballot measure, with changes, from Secretary of State Carnahan:
Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to ban affirmative-action programs designed to eliminate discrimination against, and improve opportunities for, women and minorities in public contracting, employment, and education?
Hmmmmmmm.... that seems just a little bit different.....
As you might expect, the MoCRI filed a petition in the circuit court of Cole County legally challenging the changes in the ballot language.
7 Comments:
That phrase 'programs designed to' is the key one here.
It is the definition of Thomas Sowell's 'vision of the anointed', a cleavage point between those who define good policy as things 'designed to' do good, and those who define good policy as policies-that-actually-do-good.
Well as a long time Missouri resident I can assure you that this is hardly the first time that both Carnahan and Nixon (state's attorney general) have trotted out their alledged, "white guilt" for their own feel good reasons...
I'd vote for her initiative, although her intentions were undoubtedly a scare tactic to alarm the multi-culti maroons in the general populace. Ban all of the affirmative action programs, and let every person stand or fall on their individual merit.
Excellent post Mark.
To avoid confusion with the historical initiative here in Michigan, Missouri CRI is using MoCRI as the initials.
Missouri's language is far worse than we got in Michigan, which, although not perfect at least tried to thread the needle of being reasonable to both sides.
Chetly Zarko
Excellent post Mark.
To avoid confusion with the historical initiative here in Michigan, Missouri CRI is using MoCRI as the initials.
Chet: Thanks, I've corrected it now.
Sorry about the double post there.
Mark, I have a "wiki" which I'm starting on the equality/AA issue, along with moving my race blogging to that area.
www.equalitytalk.com
Feel free to post stuff to the wiki as you see fit.
Chet
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