NC Congressman admits to "Segragationist Feelings"

A lot to address here.

First of all, yes, I was referring to "self-segregation," to use your term. ENFORCED segregation, i.e., apartheid, is as despicable an act as enforced association, and a gross abuse of the power of the state.

Justice Harlan's dissent in Plessey proved the foundation for Brown. But that foundation was itself logically flawed, since separate is clearly NOT inherently unequal. While the two may equate in fact, they do not in theory, and the more correct decision would have been to render them equal in fact while still allowing their separation.

However, in the interest of forcing a merger between the races -- a merger neither race wanted, by the way -- the Warren Court re-engineered away the right of Americans to freely associate with those they chose. Now, I can no longer serve only whites or attend a club that admits only blacks. As we've seen most recently with the Augusta National Country Club, that loss of free association has also been extended across gender lines. And in many cases, the same "protections" are now being accorded homosexuals, cross-dressers, and pagans.

You wrote: I don't see how such people's attitudes could be motivated by anything other than racism or ignorance. Self-segregation is undoubtedly less odious than segregation under apartheid or Jim Crow (because of freedom vs. coercion/violence). But it is still odious to a lesser extent.

Perhaps. But "odious" is not "illegal." Or at least it shouldn't be. Americans should be free to make "odious" decisions all day long, especially if those decisions reflect nothing more than personal preferences. It is neither the government's right nor its obligation to engineer a color-blind society. It may legitimately enforce EQUALITY, but not co-mingling of disparate cultures.

If I refuse to rent to blacks because I consider them inferior, I am a racist (and a fool to boot). And if self-segregation is "odious," to use your term, how much more odious is it that the government invokes its vast power to break down barriers the people themselves erect?

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