Because of discrimination in employment, legislation was passed to make sure that proportionate numbers of disadvantaged groups are hired and promoted. Translated, this meant that employers have to make sure that they hire an ethnically diverse group.

Aye, there's the rub. To achieve the goal, we're telling the employers to be blind to race and ethnicity; but to accommodate the method of achieving the goal, we're telling the employer to use race and ethnicity as factors in hiring. The battle plan is in direct opposition to the war strategy.

And even if hiring quotas are not required, we're still judging by the numbers.

Would it be possible to convince employers that it's smart business to hire the best candidate for the job? If so, we'd still be assuming that the employers are capable of judging individuals equally, without regard to factors that are irrelevant to job performance.

Which brings up another issue: Is an employer responsible for the sensitivities of his clientele? Suppose a business caters specifically to a customer base that consists of upperclass whites who are accustomed to dealing with their peers and who, because of lifetime exposure, aren't used to seeing blacks and women in professional positions, and their buying decisions reflect these preferences. If that employer can't make a successful business without loading the management staff with white men, should he be required to risk his business for affirmative action?

Let's look at another situation. Suppose you own an office-supply business, and you have a staff of ten outside sales people. Let's say they're split, five men and five women. You notice that the women consistently outsell the men by fifteen percent. So you switch territories to see if they're inequitably assigned. And the women continue to outperform the men. As you experience turnover, you maintain a fifty-fifty balance. And you use the same qualification criteria in all hiring decisions. And you provide equal sales training. And for years, your clients express, through sales volume, a preference for female sales representative. Do you have the right to favor women over men as a hiring practice?