Discriminations

Doug MacEachern, an editorial writer at the Arizona Republic, argues in an article today that Ward Connerly’s confidence that the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative will pass may be misplaced. (In fact, he calls Connerly “a wee bit cocky.”)

After noting that similar initiatives have been passed in states far more liberal and Democratic than Arizona, MacEachern offers only one explanation for what he obviously hopes will be Arizona’s exceptionalism:

But Arizona is different from those states in one key respect. And it's not something that necessarily reflects well on this state: College admissions programs are the primary battleground of the racial-preference wars, and the fact is Arizona colleges are not terribly selective about who gets to attend.

As we’ve recently seen (here), it is not at all clear that preferential treatment is not practiced in Arizona, especially at its state law schools. But let us assume for the sake of argument that MacEachern is right, that preferential treatment based on race or ethnicity is not widespread enough to engender any opposition. But so, one might ask, what?

MacEachern’s point, so far as I can tell, is that Arizonans may vote against barring the state from discriminating against or giving preferential treatment to anyone based on race or ethnicity because it doesn’t do so, or doesn’t do so very much. But if writing a core national value — that Americans have a right to be treated without regard to race, creed, or color — into the state constitution would not bar anything of value, then why vote against it? Why will civil rights groups, university administrators, and, yes, editorial writers at major newspapers vociferously oppose a measure that, according to editorial writer MacEachern, would have no measurable effect?

Is MacEachern saying that Arizonans oppose the principle of colorblind equality, i.e., the “without regard” principle, in principle, even where affirming it would not deprive them of anything some of them value? That would be odd, indeed.

If so, then Arizona really is different.