The ’64 Civil Rights Act and the Origins of Political Correctness

americanthinker.com ^ | 3/2/2020 | Nicholas Kaster

[rktman]

In his new book The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties, Claremont Institute scholar Christopher Caldwell explains how the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the landmark legislation designed to end segregation in the South, gave unprecedented power to Washington and ended up dividing the country.

To be sure, Caldwell recognizes that Jim Crow was immoral and needed to be eradicated. But in doing so, he contends, the law enacted permanent emergency powers that vastly increased federal control over the private lives of Americans. The law created new crimes, outlawed discrimination in almost every aspect of public and private life and exposed nearly every facet of American life to direction from bureaucrats and judges.

What had seemed in 1964 to be merely an ambitious reform revealed itself to be something more. Caldwell writes:

“The changes of the 1960s, with civil rights at their core, were not just a major new element in the Constitution. They were a rival constitution, with which the original one was frequently incompatible--and the incompatibility would worsen as the civil rights regime was built out.”

[rktman]

Special treatment is NOT equal treatment. Capish? How many, as lizzie might say, 'buh-zillions' have been flushed down the proverbial crapper since then? A lot.

[Grimmy]

The origins of Political Correctness was with the various authors from The School of Marxism at Frankfurt (The Frankfurt School).

These commiescum started showing up as lecturers in Ivy League colleges and universities in the 1930s. They became celebrities among the “elite” class.

And everything else falls from there.

[ClearCase_guy]

The federal government has a very poor track record of solving problems.

[Tenacious 1]

The law made legal equality a fact of life, Caldwell notes. However, within a few years of its passage, legal equality was deemed insufficient. The next step was “affirmative action,” explicitly authorized by the Act as equitable relief where a business had “intentionally” engaged in discrimination. However, as Caldwell notes, “the judges who interpreted it wound up explicitly repudiating race neutral solutions.”

GREAT article! But it is likely too intellectual for the necessary audience to comprehend. It would have to be dumbed down for a liberal to get the point. A liberal would simply say this article is racist and move on.

The real issue is, like "hate", "racism", "truth" and "science", the definition and understanding of a word dictates a laws meaning and severity. In this case, what constitutes "discrimination" or "equality"? It's been so bastardized that crimes are actually now litigated about what a suspect "thought" during the commission of an alleged crime, not just motive but what a perp was "feeling" can change the type and class of the crime and the punishment if found guilty. And the consequences of that are VERY real. Think about that.

[rktman]

LOL! As usual the folks that ‘should’ read it would deny the outcome in any case. Per Mark Twain? “No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot.”

[samtheman]

But we could push for two major changes. First, eliminate affirmative action once and for all and make civil rights law color blind. Second, strike back at PC by enforcing freedom of speech on campuses so that students are exposed to a diversity of opinions and not just a diversity of races and genders.
—
Possible in Trump II as long as we have the House and Senate.

[A_Former_Democrat]

The One Way Street Special Treatment rendered this POS legislation as nothing more than anti White, which led to anti-male, et al

This so overstated the ‘victims’. It failed to allow individual discretion in who to associate with, and failed to recognize cultural and religious differences, while encouraging “goals, preferences, ‘affirmative action’ and ‘diversity” BS which we see today has led to massive discrimination against whites without a whimper from the pols and media

[Dilbert San Diego]

Good point.

I had a discussion recently with some people about federal programs. The consensus was that most felt the interstate highway system was a successful government program, but we were hard pressed to come up with other successful programs.

We discussed social security and Medicare, but opinions in the group were mixed, largely because those programs will go broke.

[IronJack]

All CRA64 did was create new rights by denying old ones. The right to free association died in favor of “public accommodation.” Equality under the law was subsumed by affirmative action and hate crime designations. Free speech was canceled by “safe space” regulations and trigger warnings.

Now it’s only safe to discriminate against white Christian males. All the gains for fringe minorities came st the expense of the majority. The trend continues today.

[wardaddy]

Great post rktman

You’d be surprised over the years how many here laud all these legislations as they ape daft Hannity and Beck

There is a reason Reagan, Buckley, Goldwater and others opposed this stuff vigorously as moderate and liberal Republicans joined with liberal democrats to overcome conservative GOPe and Dixiecrat opposition

This arguably the most specific part of recent history folks who consider themselves conservative get wrong

Cause they are race cucked

Had you posted this 20 years ago you’d have been shouted down here as racist

Everett Dirksen....thank him for this crap more than anyone else....Senate minority leader

Of course GOPe ....always the minority then and happy with it

[wardaddy]

Cogent reply

[polymuser]

“The origins of Political Correctness was with the various authors from The School of Marxism at Frankfurt (The Frankfurt School).”

Yes!

The Frankfurt School moved itself from Nazi Germany to USA in the 1940’s. They chose Columbia University to be their USA HQ. (What deep statists attended Columbia U., hmm?)

They then branched out, infiltrating other universities, with colleges of education their core targets. Those indoctrinated new teachers then taught in our public schools. They also infiltrated unions, Hollywood. The D’rat party, the press and churches.

Consensus-building and sensitivity training are also their fruits.

[Pelham]

bump

[Ohioan]

I had just received the copy that Hillsdale College sent out of the speech that Christopher Caldwell delivered on their campus in January, and noted that Mr. Caldwell made many very valid points.

However, in my opinion, he conceded intellectual respectability to the Egalitarian Left, to an extent, which in my opinion cannot be justified; an extent which understates the compulsion driven flaws, which egalitarian fanatics from the French Jacobins in 1789 to the Antifa version of the Brownshirts, have in common.

"Civil Rights" vs. Civil Liberties

Leftist Word Games & The First Amendment

[leaning conservative]

Bkmk