Redefining Liberty

Americans recognize that their Liberty has been diminished over the decades. The emergence of the Libertarian Party in the 1970s, the Campaign for Liberty in 2008, the Tea Party in 2009, Glen Beck’s 9/12 Program and the Trump election in 2016 is evidence of that.

 

As the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was being debated, Senator Barry Goldwater said: ‘You can’t legislate morality’. But Southern States needed to end their segregation laws.

 

Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. They mandated racial segregation in all public facilities in the states of the former Confederate States of America, starting in 1896 with a "separate but equal" status for African Americans in railroad cars.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=Southern+States+segregation+laws&rlz=1C1CHWA_enUS664US664&oq=Southern+States+segregation+laws&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.38633j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

The Jim Crow laws were evil and ignorant and failed to recognize the similarities between the races. But the federal government had added unconstitutional activities that had “unintended consequences”. When schools were desegregated, they broke up Black neighborhood schools. Welfare laws destroyed the Black families. When businesses were desegregated, Black-owned businesses disappeared. Desegregation of private businesses like hotels and restaurants allowed Blacks access to necessary services, but when government mandated desegregation in private businesses it crossed the line and business owners no longer had unfettered “freedom of association”.

 

The federal government had already desegregated employment for government employees. The Civil Rights Act also ended discrimination in employment for all private businesses and that was a good thing. Americans would learn that minorities had abilities.  But the law ignored individual differences, allowed employment mistakes and set up an “entitlement mentality”. Too many Blacks had been encouraged to be angry and violent and demand that everybody had to put up with them. Companies had become sloppy with their “Performance Appraisals” and gave inaccurate ratings that resulted in expensive settlements. At the same time, wise business consultants like J Edwards Deming were telling us not to remove the joy from work.

 

Most Employment Lawyers were not helpful and too many were “regulatory zealots”. I picked my lawyers carefully. I also read the law and continued to use employment tests to ensure that finalists were competent. I had no problems and the workforce was grateful.

 

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader