You know very well which culture of victimization I'm talking about. It's the one that tells people that it's the government's responsibility to solve their personal, cultural, and social problems. The things that are left to change in our society - attitudes, social values, and behavior - have to be done on a personal level. The government cannot force you to change your conscience, but it can set an example by treating all citizens equally and not pursuing policies that give favorable treatment to minority candidates or businesses simply because of ethnicity.

Giving preference to one group as a "mea culpa" for past mistreatment is not how we achieve this goal. All it does is create resentment on the part of people who have worked hard and lose out to someone less qualified. Meanwhile, the beneficiaries of preferential treatment have to come to terms with the doubt as to whether what they've earned is the result of their own efforts or whether they benefitted from preferential treatment.

We should focus our resources on improving education and opportunity, not on trying to dictate outcomes. The 14th Amendment is about opportunity; there is no guarantee that each batch of promotions within a fire department must exactly match the ethnic makeup of a city, for instance.