The US: More Balkanized Than The Balkans

The United States, I think, could learn a thing or two about how to avoid Balkanization … from the Balkans. This just in from Bratislava:

Part of the Slovak anti- discrimination law is against the Constitution, Slovak Constitutional Court decided in Kosice, east Slovakia, today….

“Slovak Constitution allows for advantages of underage youths, women and the physically handicapped. But any other standard that establishes advantages for certain groups of citizens and does not directly stem from the Constitution is a violation of the basic principle of equality,” the court’s chairman Jan Mazak said….

Justice Minister Daniel Lipsic, who represented the government at the court today, said that the verdict is “a great step in the constitutional development of Slovakia.” “The so-called affirmative action or positive discrimination is no better than the negative one. The Constitutional Court clearly said that any form of discrimination violates the equality of citizens before law,” Lipsic said….

Lipsic said he considers positive discriminating on the basis of race or ethnicity a kind of racism.

Not everyone, of course, agrees.

But some members of the parliament expressed the view that certain measures taken to give certain groups an advantage are unavoidable.

Who knew that Sandra Day O’Connor and the Democrats had a branch in Bratislava?