Progressives Put the Racial Equity Squeeze on Biden – The Wall Street Journal
President Biden likes to talk about healing and unity, but he also keeps pledging to prioritize the supposed interests of certain favored minority groups. When is he going to realize that his goals of racial unification and racial favoritism are at cross-purposes?
Last week Mr. Biden signed an executive order on racial equity. He said that George Floyds death last summer marked a turning point in this countrys attitude toward racial justice and is forcing us to confront systemic racism and white supremacy. He added that this nation and this government need to change their whole approach to the issue of racial equity and make it not just an issue for any one department. It has to be the business of the whole government.
Nothing quickens the pulse of progressives like talk of systemic racism and white supremacy, so its hard to know if Mr. Biden is just telling leftists what they want to hear. But if its more than thatif the president is serious about focusing on equal outcomes instead of equal opportunitiesthen heaven help us. Milton Friedman said the society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither, while the society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both. Of course, Friedman had a constrained view of the governments capabilities that isnt shared by very many Democrats today. For them, good intentions are what matter most.
The political left has long used racism as an all-purpose explanation for racial disparities. This ignores that disparities down through history have been the norm, not the exception, and that they exist even in regions of the world where most people are of the same race. The per capita income gap between people in Eastern Europe and Western Europe, for example, is wider than the gap between whites and blacks in the U.S. Moreover, racial disparities have both grown and narrowed over time, even though racism has been constant. If Mr. Biden wants to change the governments approach to racial inequality, this history ought to inform his actions.
The greatest success of the civil-rights movement wasnt a new government program but getting government off the backs of blacks by defeating Jim Crow. Nothing the government has done since then in the name of advancing blacks has been more effective than simply ending government-sponsored discrimination. Black poverty fell by 40 percentage points between 1940 and 1960. It continued to decline in the wake of Lyndon Johnsons Great Society interventions, but at a much slower pace.
Read this article:
Progressives Put the Racial Equity Squeeze on Biden - The Wall Street Journal
- From New York to Tucson Working Families committed to electing real progressives with bold vision - Tucson Sentinel - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- New York Times Mamdani smear shows how out of touch the paper is with progressives, especially on Palestine - Mondoweiss - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Progressives Must Unite Against Nigel Farage and National Populism or Reform Will Win - Byline Times - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Progressives Disdain of Genius Is a Problem for the West - Bloomberg.com - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Mamdani electrified progressives in New York. In San Francisco, the left is full of envy. - Politico - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Minnesota progressives sound alarm over Trump tax bill - Minnesota Reformer - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Can Progressives Get Behind Parental Rights for All? - First Things - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Opinion | Your shampoo is locked up in stores, thanks to progressives - The Boston Globe - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Progressives trapped in 'misinformation bubble' about transgender youth treatments, Atlantic writer admits - Fox News - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Protecting the Rights of Parents from Progressives - Mosaic Magazine - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Catholic progressives and the development of sexual doctrine - Catholic World Report - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Why Zohran Mamdanis New York win does not really hold lessons for progressives across the world - Scroll.in - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Parents, not progressives, know their kids best. They should control education. | Opinion - Yahoo - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Gavin Newsom wont save California Progressives have damaged the state - UnHerd - June 29th, 2025 [June 29th, 2025]
- After Zohran Mamdanis upset, theres a way forward for pro-Israel progressives - The Forward - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Zohran Mamdanis victory should be a wake-up call to Canadian progressives - Ricochet Media - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Progressives tell Andrew Cuomo good riddance after Zohran Mamdanis shock victory in Democratic primary - the-independent.com - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Pennsylvania progressives turn back to former Fetterman foe as congressman spurns party line - Washington Examiner - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- After Zohran Mamdanis upset, theres a way forward for pro-Israel progressives - Jewish Telegraphic Agency - June 28th, 2025 [June 28th, 2025]
- Progressives Just Won Big in New York's Second-Largest City - Newsweek - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- Big win in New York is a message for progressives. The Big Beautiful Bull further exposed. - Daily Kos - June 26th, 2025 [June 26th, 2025]
- How Cherry Hill progressives upset the Norcross machine - MSN - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Progressives and leftists must unite to save humanity from nuclear war - Granma - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- My conversation with a 'Third Way' Democrat: can progressives & centrists coexist in one party? - Daily Kos - June 24th, 2025 [June 24th, 2025]
- Politics | 2025 Was Supposed to Be a Big Year for RI Progressives at State House. It Is a Bust. - GoLocalProv - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Progressives Abandoned J. K. Rowling, Not the Other Way Around - National Review - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Inside the Cherry Hill political battle that pitted progressives against the Norcross machine - Inquirer.com - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Not Just Progressives: Over Half of Trump Voters Oppose US War on Iran - Common Dreams - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- Ras Baraka: Dont Count Out the Progressives - New Jersey Globe - June 20th, 2025 [June 20th, 2025]
- A new book explores why progressives made it impossible to build in America - Inquirer.com - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Opinion: Someone please send progressives the destination and ETA - Star Tribune - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- New power in Riga? New Unity and Progressives seek common ground - Baltic News Network - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Republican Antitrust Officials Shouldnt Behave Like Progressives - The Daily Economy - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Why people follow religions, and why progressives should care. - Daily Kos - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- Hakeem Jeffries agrees with Elon Musk. Progressives do not, nor should any Democrat or American. - Daily Kos - June 10th, 2025 [June 10th, 2025]
- House Progressives Block the Bombs Act Would End Transfer of Offensive Arms to Israel - Democracy Now! - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- The Billionaires Backing the Neoliberal 'Abundance Coachella' Gathering Draw Ire From Progressives - Common Dreams - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- Revolution against Israel, US, and the West binds progressives to Iran - The Jerusalem Post - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- South Korean voters weary of political crisis are poised to return progressives to power - Le Monde.fr - June 7th, 2025 [June 7th, 2025]
- Video: Opinion | Progressives Are Driving Themselves Into Extinction - The New York Times - May 30th, 2025 [May 30th, 2025]
- Progressives anything but when it comes to Israel - Daily Herald - May 30th, 2025 [May 30th, 2025]
- How Progressives Are Unwittingly Aiding the Rise of Autocracy - Foreign Policy - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- Progressives should care that the global population is set to fall - vox.com - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- Progressives Mark Mother's Day With Calls to 'Honor Our Moms With Action' - Common Dreams - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- Trump doesn't fear smart women. It's progressives who are really afraid. | Opinion - USA Today - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- With Trump in the Mix, Progressives Are Winning the Intra Party Crypto War - notus.org - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- Democrats and Progressives Won Widespread Victories Across Texas in Backlash against MAGA Extremism - Progress Texas - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- The Progressives, The Conservatives, The Italians: Why This Conclave Is Different - Worldcrunch - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- Newsoms back to needling progressives - Politico - May 2nd, 2025 [May 2nd, 2025]
- Opinion - The Supreme Courts immigration about-face has progressives all twisted up - Yahoo - May 2nd, 2025 [May 2nd, 2025]
- Are Progressives Coming Together in the South Bay ? Check Out "We The People South Bay" - LA Progressive - May 2nd, 2025 [May 2nd, 2025]
- The Risks Progressives Wont Discuss - The Times of Israel - May 2nd, 2025 [May 2nd, 2025]
- Watch: House progressives speak on first 100 days of Trumps second term - AOL.com - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- City Politics: Who Will Win Progressives' Votes?; Upwardly Mobile Jobs; Anne Applebaum on Trump - WNYC - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- National progressives back Houston attorney who fought GOP in court in Texas special election - The Hill - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- SIMS: I Agree With The Progressives Hands Off! - NH Journal - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- Progressives: Can Religious and Non Religious get along? - Daily Kos - April 25th, 2025 [April 25th, 2025]
- NYC progressives want to beat Adams and Cuomo. Can they set aside their differences? - Gothamist - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Josue Sierra: When progressives turn their backs on women - Broad + Liberty - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Why progressives failed the test of Oct 7 with Joshua Leifer - The Times of Israel - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Maybe progressives shouldn't have supported a larger, more extensive federal government for 100 years - The Daily Review - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Rich Lowry: Maybe progressives shouldnt have supported a larger, more extensive federal government for 100 years - Lewiston Sun Journal - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Rich Lowry: Maybe progressives shouldn't have supported a larger, more extensive federal government for 100 years - The Joplin Globe - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Kellyanne Conway rips progressives over Tesla protests: 'Trump derangement syndrome has reached stage five' - Fox Business - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- A Cohesive Message from Progressives - The New Yorker - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- The Left Has Turned White Progressives Into Hood Rats - AM 870 The ANSWER - April 1st, 2025 [April 1st, 2025]
- Progressives Are Pissed. This Group Wants Them to Run for Office - Rolling Stone - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- AOC and other NY progressives call for Mahmoud Khalils release in letter to DHS - City & State New York - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- Progressives are not demanding any special rights for anyone | Letters - Yahoo - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- Californias Gavin Newsom opposes trans athletes in womens sports, splitting with progressives - MyMotherLode.com - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- Progressives Gather In Concord to Protest, Well, Just About Everything - NH Journal - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- Newsom deviates from progressives on womens sports issue - WORLD News Group - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- California's Gavin Newsom opposes trans athletes in women's sports, splitting with progressives - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- GV progressives organize against Trump - Green Valley News - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- OPINION: Labor, progressives, and the politics of the West Side - 48 Hills - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Adriana E. Ramrez: Progressives should admit that Donald Trump might do something right - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Decades of pandering to progressives have left both BP and Unilever at a loss - The Telegraph - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- Progressives tap a rising star to deliver their response to Trump - POLITICO - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Two Santa Ana progressives make bids for the 68th Assembly District - Los Angeles Times - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- The great rethink and the opportunity for progressives - Nation.Cymru - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]