The End of Affirmative Action?

ONE of the disadvantages conservatives labor under today is that they spend a lot of time on the defensive. Their opponents are forever proposing harebrained schemes that cry out to be resisted. Inevitably, therefore, most of the game takes place between the 50yard line and the conservatives’ goalpost. The conservatives occasionally prevail, but they rarely score.

Hence the great importance of the initiative process, which in 23 states enables voters to vote directly on legislative or even constitutional questions. The Democrats may control Congress and a majority of state legislatures, but if a state’s constitution permits a proposal to be put directly before the people when a specified number of voters so requests, then a whole new arena for conservative action is opened up. When that state is California, with a population 20 per cent larger than Canada’s, the battle that ensues is of national significance.

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William A. Rusher

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ONE of the disadvantages conservatives labor under today is that they spend a lot of time on the defensive. Their opponents are forever proposing harebrained schemes that cry out to be resisted. Inevitably, therefore, most of the game takes place between the 50yard line and the conservatives’ goalpost. The conservatives occasionally prevail, but they rarely score.

Hence the great importance of the initiative process, which in 23 states enables voters to vote directly on legislative or even constitutional questions. The Democrats may control Congress and a majority of state legislatures, but if a state’s constitution permits a proposal to be put directly before the people when a specified number of voters so requests, then a whole new arena for conservative action is opened up. When that state is California, with a population 20 per cent larger than Canada’s, the battle that ensues is of national significance.