President Obama this week announced another one of his piping hot, fresh-out-of-the-oven executive orders, this one pertaining to a growing movement to “ban the box” on job applications. The box in question, if you’re not aware, is the one that asks applicants if they have ever been convicted of a felony. Several states and several prominent corporations have already implemented the ban, and now, by decree of Obama, many federal agencies will be compelled to do the same.
“We’ve got to make sure that people who’ve paid their debt to society can earn a second chance,” Obama said in a speech at Rutgers University Monday. “We can’t have the criminal justice system carrying the entire load of society’s ills.”
You know, it’s interesting that he would pull this move during an election cycle. It gives us a chance to ponder the wisdom of banning the box from a different perspective. What would be the general sentiment of the public if Obama proposed hiding a candidate’s criminal history until a week before the election? How do you think that might go over?
Discrimination laws are already suspect, but at least they’re generally centered around things people have no control over – sex, race, age, etc. Now we’re gradually easing into a new era where discrimination laws are there to shield you from your own bad choices. One can only assume that we’re on our way to eliminating the hiring process altogether. The government will simply assign each American a job, and companies will just have to make do with whatever they get.
Obama’s executive action only applies to the federal government, but that’s always how it starts. They say the “slippery slope” argument is a logical fallacy, but when you’re talking about Democrats, it’s a time-tested fact. It’s in their name: progressives! If they ever found a stopping place, they would have to abandon their whole identity.
Obama’s idea of social justice is as wrongheaded as his idea of foreign affairs. He’s like a doctor who keeps prescribing his patient pain meds for a chronic headache, oblivious to the rather large hatchet embedded in his skull. Too many minorities in prison? Let ’em out! They keep getting arrested? Decriminalize whatever it is that they’re doing! They can’t get jobs? Forbid employers from asking about their record!
This is why it’s so depressing to see conservative writers complain about how unwilling Republican lawmakers are to compromise. Why would you ever compromise with a philosophy so obviously dangerous? Conservatism, in its purest form, is simply another word for common sense. You don’t compromise with someone who’s trying to choke the life out of your country.
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