President’s Veto of Civil Rights Bill

Thank you, oh, thank you, Mr. President, for your veto! To have given opportunists those powers inherent in that bit of legislation would have set back the productivity of our economic engine to an extent impossible to measure.

Now I will continue to hire who I believe is most qualified for the job. I can promote the person who has shown special merit and not fear an automatic legal challenge because of the color of someone’s skin or national origin or sex. That bill would have created an open season for every self-serving attorney in the land and put an automatic damper on every decision to expand the number of employees in every workplace. My only protection would have been to meet implied quotas--and there goes entrepreneurship!

This has always been, and is, a competitive, capitalist society. Those minorities demanding special treatment should have the insight to recognize the system in this country that has allowed them entrance and learn to play by the rules that have served the majority so well. It is, after all, this competition that has created this world the minorities clamor to share.

Let’s continue on the basis where merit is still the critical factor; the system was never meant to serve as an equalizer. The most able should be able to rise to the top without special boosts from those less able pleading “social justice.” Don’t try to fix what ain’t broke!

T. BRUCE GRAHAM

Port Hueneme