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I think this is a difficult issue. But first, I have to say that I don't understand why the Bush administration decided to submit a brief in the Supreme Court case. Is it common for presidential administrations to take a position in a pending Supreme Court case and to go so far as to submit a brief? Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm just not aware of this ever happening. It doesn't seem to me that it is the President's job to get involved with Supreme Court cases, and I actually find it somewhat disturbing.
On the topic itself, I'm torn. I'm torn because as a white woman, it did piss me off when I didn't get a job and someone else did and, in my opinion, I was more qualified and I wondered whether his skin color was a deciding factor. Of course, I will never know. However, I understand that traditionally in our society, people of color (and I may add women as well) have been deprived of opportunities that we as white people take for granted, and I do feel that it is our responsibility as a society to make up for that or to do what we can to make things better. So I am in favor of affirmative action, but I do think that 20 points, on the scale posted above, is probably excessive. I do think that 20 points for socio-economic disadvantage, however, is appropriate because I think that people from lower income areas and the resulting poorer school districts do deserve to be placed on more equal footing with people from wealthier areas.
Obviously, it is a difficult area, but I think that affirmative action in general is beneficial, as long as all of the competing interests are balanced to come up with a system that is as fair as possible to as many people as possible.
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