Affirmative Action is harmful.

"Leave behind the passive dreaming of a rose-tinted future. The energy of happiness exists in living today with roots sunk firmly in reality's soil." - Daisaku Ikeda Ikeda writes on the harms of looking at reality in an idealistic manner. When we attempt to romanticize justice and fairness, we end up instead skewing them so that they look nothing like they should. The unavoidable truth is that different people are born into different walks of life, each equipped with strengths and weaknesses unique to them. Race, gender, and/or socioeconomic status are not a person's definitive values. And while these attributes may provide a stumbling block for some in their walk, it shouldn't justify policies and procedures which harm others. Affirmative action is harmful as it treats hardships as inequalities, teaches entitlement, destroys any gained character benefit from said hardships, and promotes the hiring of less qualified individuals to selective institutions. One born into a lower socioeconomic class would grow up with a stronger work ethic than one born into a more financially advantageous situation. And while I don't mean to establish that argument as a universal rule, it is undeniable that hard circumstances build character. through affirmative action such values are not treated as benefits to one's character, but instead as characters flaws which need to be corrected by means of special treatment. We teach that one who has had a tough time in life, or one who is descended from those who have had tough times are entitled to special treatment by virtue of their hardship. This is bad as it it takes away one's ability to put the skills they've learned through their hardships to work. Instead entitlement is promoted as necessary for progress, and people become lazy. All the while, the gap continues to grow as those who have been traditionally classified as well off are required to work even harder to make up for the benefits given to those of a lower class. We effectively strip those gaining from affirmative action of any potential character benefits and give them to those being hurt by affirmative action. We harm the proletariat and strengthen the bourgeois. This begins a vicious cycle which only widens the gap between the well off and those benefiting from affirmative action. We don't solve for inequality through reverse prejudice. We only make it worse. Finally the issue of employment is one to be discussed. I would think that the obvious injustice of denying an qualified individual a job so that it could be given to a less qualified individual is obvious enough, so I won't spend too much time there. The real problem that affirmative action creates in the realm of employment is that can prevent progress by placing less qualified individuals into certain jobs. Up until only a few years ago mass famine plagued the entire world, and in many places this is still is a huge problem. However thanks to the progress in agricultural science we've been able to make huge strides in solving this problem. This may not have been the case had affirmative action been the guiding factor in placing those responsible for this change. Had we given certain individuals teaching jobs because of their race, students may not have been inspired to solve world hunger. Had we accepted students into agricultural schools to research progressive farming methods based on gender, we may have never discovered ways to feed the world. We already see affirmative action influencing employment and education in the status quo. Women dominate the field of education and minority scholarships, among other things, make it difficult for the middle-class white to pay for their education. There's no way to tell what progress will or has been stifled because of this, and we should treat it as a good thing. In conclusion, a person is more than their race, gender or pocketbook. And until we realize this, we will never move towards equality. Vote Pro! Good luck Con.