Affirmative Action and the War in Iraq
That's an empty header- but trust me, it'll make sense. There's a fine comment in FindLaw today that addresses the argument that affirmative action is morally equivalent to racist policies of old; to wit, Jim Crow laws. The article makes an analogy to the reasoning used by dissenters of American action in Iraq; arguing that the US violation of international law in attacking Iraq (if you dispute that, leave a comment and i'll get you a link) is morally equivalent to Iraq's violations of international law (if you dispute that, you read no news). The moral of the story is that both reasonings are wrong.
Here is Justice Thomas:
"I believe there is a "moral [and] constitutional equivalence" between laws designed to subjugate a race and those that distribute benefits on the basis of race in order to foster some current notion of equality."
and you've heard the arguments on Iraq: 'how can we justify invading Iraq because they've violated international law when in fact we will violate international law in such invasion?'
The problem is this, according to Amar and Brownstein (authors of article):
"Put simply, there is no moral or legal equivalence here. Suggesting there is shows only the arguer's myopia - the failure to look at purpose, intent, or effect, when a parallel is drawn. In this case, oversimplification - looking at one parallel but ignoring huge dissimilarities - leads to gross injustice."
And this problem exists for both the anti-affirmative action argument and the anti-war with Iraq argument.
Go read the article. I think it's main thesis is a need to judge these issues on government intent as opposed to a "myopic" analogizing.