Affirmative Action Bake Sales

Affirmative action programs have enjoyed a successful run and should now be eliminated. Over the years, some positive benefits to society have been realized, but now, in their maturity, the programs have become institutionalized bigotry. As such, dissension is growing and will continue to grow. And, as long as it continues to be perceived by the public that affirmative action makes some people more equal than others, more and more citizens will become inflamed and the potential for lawless disorder increases. The scenario is predictable.

With that in mind, consider the fact that student protests of affirmative action are being shut down on college campuses nationwide. A common protest method of having a bake sale with cookie prices determined by the race or gender of the buyer has produced reactions that included physical attacks.

As long as there are affirmative action quotas, guidelines, targets, or -pick your own euphemism-, the episodes of protest will continue and, as they continue, they'll become more violent.

It is my belief that it's time to sunset institutionalized affirmative action programs. If not, future dissent will be predictably more violent. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) reliably tracks the controversy and should be consulted by those having interest in the subject. Sooner or later, everybody will be interested. The issue is not going away.

It is also my belief that, with this post, I've used "sunset" as a verb for the very first time.

[Update] Hat tip to SCSUScholars.