Saturday, March 12, 2011

DOJ Rewrites Local Rules

The concept of federalism in America's form of government has always been both critical and tenuous. Certainly the Founders felt the latitude of the states to manage their own internal affairs was an essential component of the new Constitution. The balance between what the states could do and what would be delegated to the federal level was the source of the debate between Hamilton's Federalists and Jefferson's Anti-Federalists.

Over time it would be impossible to deny the erosion of power for the state and the assumption of control by the national level. Today it would be nearly impossible to find a single facet of our lives which does not have the regulatory fingers of the feds grasping.

But, in the half century since Civil Rights reform and with the evolution of Affirmative Action to insure that balanced attempts are made to improve racial balance and diversity in the work place without reverse discrimination or quotas, it is difficult to justify this:

Lower the Standards Regardless of Consequences

It is ludicrous to believe that you can simply adjust the line of acceptable performance to meet your goals without compromising public safety. The DOJ didn't say that the test was discriminatory. They said that the result wasn't what they wanted and therefore rather than examine the test for bias they directed that the standard be lowered.

I wonder how it will feel in a year or so in Dayton when the police or fire departments respond to an emergency. Maybe they should simply call Attorney General Holder for help. I'm sure he would handle the situation.

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