What’s come over Eugene Volokh? He publicizes a little-known fact that could have dramatic repercussions: 11 United States Senators are Jewish! So what’s the big deal? you ask. The Big Deal is that they (we) are seriously “overrepresented”; Jews, who are only 2% of the U.S. population, hold 11% of the Senate seats!
Again, you ask, what’s the problem? The problem is that according to the new definition of fairness that is advocated by supporters of affirmative action, this “overrepresentation” is grossly unfair.
Recall the following comments by Rick Hertzberg in the New Yorker that Stuart Buck (here)and I (here) discussed last summer:
Here’s a little thought experiment…. Imagine, if you can, that African-Americans were represented “fairly” in the Senate. They would then have twelve senators instead of, at present, zero, since black folk make up twelve per cent of the population. Now imagine that the descendants of slaves were afforded the compensatory treatment to which the Constitution entitles the residents of small states. Suppose, in other words, that African-Americans had as many senators to represent them as the Constitution allots to the twelve per cent of Americans who live in the least populous states. There would be forty-four black senators. How’s that for affirmative action?
It’s fine. Actually, it’s a quite good example of what many affirmative action proponents mean by fairness.
Eugene, however, better be careful. Before you know it someone will reveal what proportion of law school faculties are Jewish….
ADDENDUM – Interestingly, only one of the 11 Senators is Republican, and he, Arlen Specter, only barely. (But since Norm Coleman is Jewish, the number is about to double.) Of the 26 Jewish House members, only one is Republican, Eric Cantor, from right up the road from me in Virginia. Jewish Republicans are thus even more “underrepresented” than just plain Jews are “overrepresented.” Maybe by the next census we’ll be “taking religion into account” and can fix that by redistricting or a Lani Guinier-like weighted voting scheme.
What is racism, as is practiced in America today? Is it assaulting and battering people of an undesired group? No. Is it denying certain groups’ access to public services? No. Is it systematically denying jobs to those of a disadvantaged group? No, lawsuits would end that before it started.
Racism, today in America, is teaching school age children each child is part of a race and not a nation. Racism is teaching elementary students that each is more a member of a group than an individual. Racism is denying qualified applicants promotions, jobs, and higher-education opportunities. I’ve never encountered the blatant racism of the past (I’m in my 20’s and grew up in Indiana and Utah), but I constantly encounter the racism of affirmative action, political correctness, and the Big Brother-like eye searching my ethnic background. I’m a human being and an American, not some member of some race or ethnic group. I’m sick of having these racist ideologies heaped upon me in school and the media.
Nate Caplin
In a recent study, Democrats were shown to be over 60% more likely to hold anti-Semitic views? Democrats only half-heartedly support Israel and other Jewish interests. Why then do Jews vote Democratic, so often? I decided, long ago, to quit the party of the man (FDR) who sent thousands of Jews back to their deaths in Nazi-occupied Europe, when he could have given them asylum.
Bobby