A no vote for affirmative action.

• Author: Cameron, Ken
• Position: READERS RESPOND - Letter to the editor

You prove the point of those who seek to do away with government-imposed discrimination ("We're not ready to close the door on affirmative action," Mike Cote, June).

I'm from New Orleans You're right. It was a disaster waiting to happen. Perfect example of government bureaucrats trying to solve problems by adding more government. The weakest citizens become trapped and more dependent Those who can--leave. Then, those who manipulate such circumstances (politicians) apply more government and higher taxes.

Of course, this does not happen overnight. It is gradually applied over decades so the slow boil is not detected. But the plight of New Orleans was (is) not a racial circumstance--it is a longstanding stench caused by too much concentration of power. Affirmative action was more prevalent in New Orleans than anywhere else on Earth, and we see exactly what good it did.

On the other hand, in the absence of affirmative action, I would expect that New Orleans would have been a city (and government) with an equally if not more diverse ethnicity than most places simply because of its heritage. But the strong were not allowed to rise to the top. They left because the...