George W. Bush’s Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather Was a Slave Trader

[branford]

199. Hold on . . . I most certainly never stated people today do not suffer from racism

or other forms of discrimination, including antisemitism, homophobia, ageism, and a litany of other pernicious bigotry.

This bigotry is precisely why I support doing everything that is constitutionally permissible to legally prohibit and punish all forms of discrimination. I support such measures because it is simply the right and just thing to do, not out of some amorphous "collective guilt" (or taint of blood as implied by the OP), particularly since neither I nor my ancestors were part of the purported "collective" that participated in slavery, Jim Crow or anything else remotely related to the issue. Rather, my group (American Ashkenazi Jews who immigrated in and around WWII or just Jews) has been institutionally discriminated against throughout the world, historically and today, and even suffered a near genocide within living memory. The fact that my "collective" was a significant part of the civil rights movement in America and a liberal force in the Democratic Party is also notable in contrast to the larger "white" society you criticize. Jews only started being perceived as "white" in America when we, as a group, started to become economically successful in and around the time of the civil rights era, and to many, we are still definitely separate and distinct. Studying historical trends, I would note that many now argue that the success of Asian Americans (and to a lesser extend, Indian Americans) today are making them the American Jews from yesteryear. I anticipate Asians will be "white" soon enough.

Again, I believe that as a citizen of this country I have a responsibility to others, and that responsibility is to promote and ensure the end of discriminatory practices as a means to promote equal opportunity. I have done so in my political advocacy as well as my career as a civil trial attorney who has practiced employment law and dealt extensively with illegal discriminatory practices, racial and otherwise. Nevertheless, nothing will ever be totally "fair," however you define the term, such a quest is a fool's errand which will likely cause more and worse problems that it tries to solve, and it is impossible to guarantee positive or prosperous results.

You can define my "mindset" as conservative, libertarian or anything else, but it is demonstrably mainstream and benign, including among Democrats, and consistent with our party platform.

Further, you are certainly free to advocate for more compensatory or related policies, but as you appear to acknowledge, you will face increasing legal barriers and diminishing public support, including among large swaths of liberals and Democrats. Since affirmative action and many diversity policies are now rapidly becoming legally untenable or overturned nationally or by state and local popular will, more redistributive polices such as reparations become little more than fringe academic discussions.