Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 31
Ripples from that long-passed Civil War are still lapping at the political shores of our
generation. One of them, the policy of Affirmative Action, put in place mostly by the
descendents of anti-slavery whites who carried no guilt for the oppression of blacks, is a
sort of atonement on behalf of the white oppressors to the descendents of not just
enslaved blacks, but also of other minorities that may not have been treated fairly in the
past. I dwell in this program only as an example of many other programs that have
resulted from the re-interpretation of the Constitution that emerged from the Franklin D.
Roosevelt (FDR) administration. To keep my story in focus, examples from other post-
FDR government programs will be extremely abbreviated if they appear at all. It would
not be practical to review them all, even in other contexts within this book. Yet their
existence and importance to pursue personal dreams is comparably questionable.
As I see it, there are basic reasons why open-ended Affirmative Action is bad public
policy. One is that the majority of whites were not oppressors. In fact, by far most of the
freedom fighters immolated in the anti-slavery holocaust were white. If reparations are
to be exacted, in fairness they should come from former slaveholding states only. After
all, Black Americans were liberated by the unselfish sacrifices of the majority of White
Americans. And if descendents of former slaves are to be paid, descendents of white
union soldiers ought to be paid as well. Both propositions run counter to America’s
historic position of dictating constructive terms, as opposed to exhausting reparations,
upon the end of wars. To me, they are wrong and ill advised.
Many economists have studied the economic effects of slavery. It appears that the
monetary present value of such abuse could be the subject of calculations, debate and
eventual agreement. If the balance sheet really still shows a remainder owed to the
descendents of former slaves, its payment ought to be quantified and refunded.
Reparations could be accomplished through Affirmative Action legislation within a finite
period of time, not with unlimited amounts and undefined times of collection.
Also, open-ended Affirmative Action is really a form of patronage and therefore it is
lethal to the individual’s right to pursue a dream. It can be argued that by itself this
program is not very expensive to the nation, but when added into the column containing
so many other special interest programs, together they become suffocating. It would be
much better to just provide for everybody a totally color blind system where no
government, regardless of its level, levies taxes to support programs benefiting just a
few. In my opinion each individual must be allowed to keep a larger part of his creations,
and be able to use them as only he or she considers it best. We must also remember
that in America, more than in other countries, utter poverty for able bodies is mostly a
matter of choice. Yet, I believe that establishing a minimum safety net for people in
short-term distress is a desirable function of government.
Affirmative Action programs aimed at Native Americans are just as applicable as for the
descendents of former slaves. Violent usurpation of the land from so-called American
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