George Bush on

Affirmative Action: According to onlineethics.org, Affirmative Action is: "Positive steps to enhance the diversity of some group, often to remedy the cumulative effect of subtle as well as gross expressions of prejudice. When numerical goals are set, they are set according to the group's representation in the applicant pool rather than the group's representation in the general population." Generally included in the "group" are minorities (African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, American Indians and Asian-Americans) and women.

George W. Bush:

Description of Candidate's position: Bush advocates for diversity in education and employment but rejects the notion of "affirmative action", calling it a "quota" system. Bush has advocated for the repeal of affirmative action and refers to it as reverse discrimination, citing the Constitution when referring to people of all races being treated equally.

Quotation from the Candidate: America is a diverse country, racially, economically, and ethnically. And our institutions of higher education should reflect our diversity. A college education should teach respect and understanding and goodwill. And these values are strengthened when students live and learn with people from many backgrounds. Yet quota systems that use race to include or exclude people from higher education and the opportunities it offers are divisive, unfair and impossible to square with the Constitution. Link

Assessment of the Proposal:

Positive: "Every employee that benefits from affirmative action bears a mark of not being the best pick, but only the best pick from a limited group. When one thinks about it, they will discover that they would get a better feeling of satisfaction if they got a job because they were the best person for the job, not because they were Hispanic. Employers may also feel cheated because they didn't get as good a worker as they could have gotten. Employers that hire employees solely on the color of their skin are discriminating (DeWit 1996, 2)."

Negative: "The president's comments don't necessarily match up with his actions when it comes to the issue of affirmative action," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR). "We are intrigued as to whether this is a change in his administration's position on the important issue of affirmative action, particularly in view of their January 2003 filing of an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in opposition to the University of Michigan's race-conscious admissions policies (Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger)."

Comparison: Bush advocates eliminating affirmative action while Kerry has voted for maintaining it, and changing it if it need be. Bush also calls affirmative action a quota system and calls it unconstitutional because of racial favoritism.

Link to Kerry's affirmative action brief.