Thursday, July 10, 2008

Civil-Rights Legistlations That May Become Law If Obama Becomes President

Peter Kirsanow from NRO, discusses the plethora of Civil Rights legislation that is waiting in the wings should Obama become President.

Unlike Kirsanow and Betsy Newmark, I don't have the same fears for a couple of reasons. First, the way the Senate operates now, it will be very hard, even with 55 or 58 Democratic Senators to get this legislation out, since anonymous holds will be continue I am sure.

Second, the courts are a pretty good backstop now for some of these laws. Some of the items, like reparations or a separate native Hawaiian government would probably be found unconstitutions or at least unenforceable. Given that Obama will be occupying the White House if this legislation is signed into law, it is going to be very hard indeed to claim that blacks as a race are still discriminated against in a systematic fashion.

Third, and finally, despite the "importance" of some of these bills to the individual Congressional Sponsors, I am not sure there is enough genuine support, even among Democrats, to enact some of these bills. It will be a massive step back in race relations, economics and history to revisit some of these issues. Instead of taking these retrospective acts, why not look prospectively, it is a far better use of time and resources.

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