Last week, Senator Jim Webb inked an editorial in the Wall Street Journal advocating for the end of affirmative action.
"Forty years ago, as the United States experienced the civil rights movement, the supposed monolith of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant dominance served as the whipping post for almost every debate about power and status in America," writes Webb in a piece titled "Diversity and the Myth of White Privilege."
"After a full generation of such debate, WASP elites have fallen by the wayside and a plethora of government-enforced diversity policies have marginalized many white workers," writes Webb. "The time has come to cease the false arguments and allow every American the benefit of a fair chance at the future."
Webb argues that recent immigrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America have not been discriminated against by the U.S. government, and instead have benefited from government programs more than white Americans.
"I have dedicated my political career to bringing fairness to America’s economic system and to our work force, regardless of what people look like or where they may worship. Unfortunately, present-day diversity programs work against that notion, having expanded so far beyond their original purpose that they now favor anyone who does not happen to be white," he writes.
According to a Washington Post article, former Governor Douglas Wilder had reservations about Webb’s op-ed.
"If it’s not for the civil rights movement and diversity programs, he would not be a United States senator today," Wilder told the Associated Press. "Things are tough enough without having people you thought were friends do things like this."
For the complete editorial, click here.
