BAPTISM OF FIRE (continued): Here’s my first column for my first initiative. In it, I explained why we needed to limit affirmative action.

Fri, July 8, 2022

Wednesday’s update (click here to read it) was about my first initiative which limited affirmative action.

I told you about a lot of “firsts” for me during that campaign (first initiative I’d ever sponsored, first public debate, etc).

We launched the initiative in late March 1997.

Shortly after that, a liberal columnist for the Seattle Times slammed it hard.

I submitted this column — the first I’d ever written — and they published it on April 10, 1997 (I was only 32 years old).

Initiative’s goal is simple: equal treatment under law, regardless of race or sex

By Tim Eyman

Mindy Cameron calls the goals of the Washington State Civil Rights Initiative “narrow” and “distorted” (“We can’t turn our backs on persistent inequality,” April 6). As co-chair of the initiative, I can tell Washington residents that our goal is simple — to guarantee equal treatment under the law for everyone, regardless of race or sex.

it is the same goal of the authors of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964. It is the same goal that President John. F. Kennedy spoke of whne he said, “Race has no place in American life or law.”

Our initiative reads simply, “The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”

This principle is an affront to Ms. Cameron because under this color-blind, gender-blind policy, her definition of “disadvantaged” groups will lose, and her definition of “advantaged” groups will benefit. There are two problems with this thinking.

First, it assumes that members of groups are all the same. This assumption is absurd. Some Hispanics need help, some do not. Some whites are rich, others are poor. Some African Americans could use a “leg up,” others do not. The problem with preference programs is they assume that all members of the preferred group are “disadvantaged” and all members of the non-preferred group are “advantaged.” We recognize the government has a role in helping those who need help. However, based this help on which group a person belongs to is wrong.

Second, if a preference program is set aside for a minority, please define the term “minority.” Is the son of an African-American man and a white woman “enough” of a minority to qualify for the preference? What about the daughter of an Asian-American and an Hispanic? What if the person is only one-fourth minority? or how about just one-eighth? Our state is a melting pot of diverse people and diverse cultures. We don’t want some government official deciding which group is preferred and which group will be discriminated against. Our government should not discriminate.

Ms. Cameron, you say we live in a “race-obsessed society.” We agree. Yet it is the race-conscious programs you defend that divide and polarize our society on the basis of race or sex. The WSCRI requires our government to treat everyone equally — without regard to race or sex. Isn’t that progress?

TIM EYMAN, CO-CHAIR, Washington State Civil Rights Initiative 

— END —

That was my first.

Since then, I’ve written thousands of things like it where I advocated for various conservative principles and policies (lower car tab taxes, limiting property taxes, making it tougher to raise taxes, requiring performance audits of government, shrinking the size of the King County Council, banning red-light ticketing cameras, etc). 

But that first one was special.

Because it was the opening salvo in a debate that ultimately led to the voters overwhelmingly passing the initiative into law.

It was the 1st of 17 initiatives that we successfully qualified for a public vote.

It was the 1st of 11 initiatives that voters approved.

That 1st campaign was what inspired me to devote my life to activism.  

 

For all my efforts over the past 2+ decades, I ask you to help me overturn the AG’s ridiculously unconstitutional ruling against me so this never happens to anyone else ever again by donating to my legal defense fund:

Mail-in donation: Tim Eyman Legal Defense Fund, 500 106th Ave NE #709, Bellevue, WA, 98004
Or donate online:
By PayPal
By Credit/Debit

And now a message from Larry Jensen & Sid Maietto:

We’re asking folks to donate to our PAC so we can keep fighting for taxpayers with Jim Walsh’s initiative I-1491, the STOP ALL INCOME TAXES INITIATIVE. 

The taxpayers of Washington need our help now more than ever. Donate to our political committee so we can keep fighting for you:

Mail your check — made payable to “Permanent Offense I-1491” — to: Permanent Offense, PO Box 6151, Olympia, WA, 98507
Or donate online: PermanentOffense.com

Kindest Regards, 

Sid Maietto & Larry Jensen

— END —

Thanks everyone.

Larry, Tim, & Sid

P.S. Please — I urge you to donate to my legal defense fund today:

Mail-in donation: Tim Eyman Legal Defense Fund, 500 106th Ave NE #709, Bellevue, WA, 98004
Or donate online:
By PayPal
By Credit/Debit