Affirmative Action

I will now make my argument against Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action programs come in one of two forms. Either they mandate compliance, or they provide economic incentive to all who comply (in the form of tax credits, subsidies, etc. ) Although affirmative action programs are created with good intentions, their very nature is racist and sexist. The reason is because they discriminate in favor of women and minority racial groups (black, hispanic, indian, etc. ). And by discriminating in favor of these groups, they inadvertently discriminate against white males. Suppose for example I have my own business in Ohio, named Kescarte Inc. , a manufacturing plant. Let's also suppose that the state of Ohio has a law that for every seven employees I hire, one of them must be a minority. This law forces me to discriminate in hiring based on race. I don't have a problem hiring someone who is a minority, as long as this person can do just as good a job as anyone else. But what if there are very few minorities like that, at least in that particular area of Ohio? If I have six white male workers in my manufacturing company and I need to hire a seventh worker, what if I can't find a good minority worker? Or what if three people apply for the job, and two are whites that just happen to have a very good work history and the other is a minority that just happens to have a bad work history? I will have to hire the minority worker. In this case, even though the other two workers would probably have been a better option, I would have to hire the third. Wouldn't that be awfully discouraging to those two other workers? To know that even though they are clearly the better workers, and that one of them would have gotten the job, if only they had the right skin color? Or if they had been born the right gender? Then they would realize that they were being discriminated against based on race, or sex. But what can they do about it? They're not minorities. And the state dictates that minorities have the legal advantage. Thus, short of petitioning for a change in state law, they can do little. But then again, what if Ohio doesn't have a mandatory affirmative action law? What if there are only incentives for hiring minority workers, like a tax credit or a subsidy, instead of it being mandatory? Well, again there is still the problem of discrimination against white males. Take the example above. If the state government will pay my business, Kescarte Inc. , $100/month to hire this minority worker over the other two white workers, who will I hire? The minority worker of course. Even though that worker isn't as good a worker, I'll hire him because the extra $100/month should more than make up for the difference in performance. Meanwhile, the other two have plenty of time to dwell on the fact that their tax dollars are being given to me to not hire them, even though they are more skilled. What most people don't understand is that in a free market economy, there is already a system in place that discourages racism and sexism, and promotes equality in the workplace. What is this system? Supply and demand. Allow me to provide another example. Let's suppose that there are no affirmative action programs in Ohio, and that as the owner of Kescarte Inc. , I am free to hire whomever I please. And let's say that I am prejudice against women. I will hire any worker of any race, as long as they are male. This is for no reason other than the fact that I have a personal problem with women, and I don't want them working for me. Well, my personal prejudice immediately puts me at a disadvantage in the marketplace. Because if I have a competitor who manufactures the same product, and he doesn't care what sex his workers are, as long as they're good at their job, then he has an advantage over me. The reason is because my competitor has access to a greater supply of quality workers than I do, and I have limited myself to only a certain portion of the labor market. Since he has no limits, my competitor has an edge, and will probably eventually end up having more skilled workers than me, on average, and thus be able to provide a higher-quality product at a more competitive price than I can. And that is because my competitor is not sexist, and the free market system indirectly punishes those who are. Thus, there is a sytem in place to promote diversity in the work place, so long as the quality of work is equal. And unlike affirmative action programs, which effectively encourage the selection of a worker based on race or sex, or outright demand it, this system discourages the selection of workers based on anything other than the quality of their work. My conclusion is that we should maintain such a system, and not set up governemnt controlled, affirmative action programs. This concludes my argument for Round 2. I look forward to reading my opponent's arguments!