Libertarian Ron Paul and his racism again

[Faith No More]

Free market economics doesn't have any precautions to prevent racism or persecution in the free market, just as it doesn't have any precautions to prevent ageism or sexism. What prevents these in a free market is consumer action. People who oppose sexism don't buy from corporations that are reported to have sexist policies; the same goes for racism, ageism, etc.

Bullshit. You know how many times I've had to buy shit from Wal-Mart because they were the only ones who had something or the only ones I could afford to buy from? Consumer action cannot dictate social issues with these giant corporations that can afford to be racist and sexist because they know people will buy from them anyway.

The issue of affirmative action was brought up in another thread, but I want to mention it here, as I am 100% opposed to such legislation. It is, in my eyes, not the correct way to go about getting rid of racism. What affirmative action does is simply turn racism on its head, and end up discriminating against whichever race is more dominant in the current society. If two men go for a job interview, 1 white and 1 black, then the better man (i.e. the one who is more qualified and is better suited for the job) should get the job. I don't care if that man is white or black; it shouldn't matter. What matters is when one of the men (be it black or white) gets the job because said company has a quota for his respective race. Hiring based on race is exactly what affirmative action is supposed to prevent, but in fact all it does is make it commonplace.

I'm against affirmative action not because I'm some kind of racist, but because I was brought up to believe that people should be treated equally, and affirmative action simply doesn't do that. I was against affirmative action even when I was a liberal, because whichever way you look at it, is is treating people based on the colour of their skin, and not (to borrow a phrase from the great Martin Luther King Jr) on the "content of their character".

I agree affirmative action is not the correct way to get rid of racism but it is a way of leveling the playing field. Once it can be demonstrated that there is equal opportunity for everyone, then we can get rid of it.