Affirmative Action should be based on Socio-Economic Status and not race or religion

Affirmative Action, as a whole, has the potential to be a stepping stone for America to truly become a nation of the people. Throughout history America has technically been a democracy, but the ruling class have always suppressed the greater majority due to power and money. They have either weaseled around or outright broken the constitution. Since the Progressive Era, however, America has evolved into a nation truly of the people, by the people, and for the people (not the elitist class). There is one flaw in Affirmative Action however: it is based on race. Affirmative Action currently is more interested in integrating women and minorities (who undeniably generally have a lower socio economic background in general) with white male Protestants/Catholics. This does not make sense. Firstly, a number of these groups are proved to not have a disadvantage within society. for example, there are currently more women enrolled in colleges than men (http://www.usatoday.com...) . I admit that racial minorities in general struggle more due to a past of intense persecution and white protestants/Catholics often were more successful due to a society in their favor. However, there are currently minorities with significant advantages due to their lineage and whites tragically disadvantaged due to a history of persecution. White Trash and Honkies are two terms equally cruel and derogatory to racial black terms such as nigger. Throughout the US during the nineteenth century, illustrations and hand drawings depicted the Irish with the "ape like image" of Irish people's faces appeared to be primordial like a monkey's, and claims of evolutionary racism about the origin of Irish people as an "inferior race". (http://www.victorianweb.org...) After 1860 many Irish sang songs about signs reading "HELP WANTED - NO IRISH NEED APPLY"; these signs came to be known as "NINA signs. (http://tigger.uic.edu...) While the Irish are the race oriented example, there are other, less 'race specific' examples of persecution of white people. Anyone who is poor, including those that are white, are persecuted. There are horrific crimes against the homeless for being homeless. (http://www.cnn.com...) Gerontophobia is the fear of the elderly, causing discrimination against them. . (http://www.ias.ac.in...) Ephebiphodia is a fear of youth, causing discrimination against them. (http://www.spiked-online.com...) It is unnecessary to list every form of of discrimination to understand that Affirmative Action, based on religion, race, and sex (women have already risen from persecution, as already proved). All that discriminate have one ideal in common: elitism. Elitism defined in this debate are the individuals who form an elite in a society. The elite are the elite due to superior intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, other distinctive attributes, or simply being members of a majority. Being elitist is not inherently a bad thing. However, it is exceptionally common for elitists to feel justified in, misconstrue morality in, or recognize gain in the need to persecute or control a certain people(s) unlike or less fortunate than themselves. While Elitism may or may not be possible to end, there are steps that can weaken it. Current Affirmative Action would most likely do more good than harm. Racial, and occasionally religious, minorities generally have less education, less wealth, less power, and less Elitist qualities than the majority. However, there are those that are elitist that are racial or religious minorities. Forbes listed 20 Black Americans that are elitist (http://gossiboocrew.com...) 139 of the 400 wealthiest Americans are Jewish (http://blogs.jta.org...) Mormons have a higher tendency to be well educated. (http://www.fairlds.org...). Furthermore, ten percent of all White Americans are bellow the poverty line. (http://www.census.gov...) A better alternative to Affirmative Action is to base it not on race or religion, but based on socio-economic status. While all racial and religious minorities have members that are elitist, no one bellow poverty level or close to it is. The poverty stricken white American has far more disabilities then the black son of a billionaire. Furthermore, since racial minorities do have a tendency to be in poverty it would assist members of racial minorities that truly needed it. Please only accept this debate if you believe Affirmative Action must be enacted the way it is. If there is a debate with someone that believes Affirmative Action is entirely bad the debate will be a same song with a different chorus. Again, only accept the debate if you disagree with my argument in the sense you believe Affirmative Action must be enacted the way it currently is. Thank you, and I wish good luck to my opponent.