THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 31, 1995 TAG: 9508300007
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A20 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
Regarding ``Affirmative action welcomes all'' (Another View, Aug. 9): The notion that affirmative action is fair or that it is indeed moral is not only wrong, it goes against the very philosophy upon which our nation was founded.
The redistribution of wealth (which is what federal scholarships are) is a socialistic idea which was declared by Marx in his Communist Manifesto to be one of the necessary components (along with other familiar ideas such as a public-school system and progressive income tax) for the achievement of the ultimate communist society.
It is not the government's role to take from me and to give to another without my consent, especially when that redistribution is based on skin color as it is in the case of ``minority scholarships.'' It is a worthwhile endeavor to aid the poor in finding financial assistance, grants, scholarships, etc. Perhaps it would not be outside the government's role to do so, but the actual money should not come from my taxes without my consent.
Are federally funded scholarships (and the redistribution of wealth in general) in line ideologically with Locke, Montesqieu, Smith, Madison, Hamilton and Jay? Or are these ideas rather in the ideological tradition of Paine, Rousseau, Voltaire, Marx and Lenin? I say, the latter.
WILL BROWN
Portsmouth, Aug. 10, 1995 by CNB