I got into an argument about this with a young Canadian “conservative” during our junket to Israel, who argued just like a young “conservative” (not to mention liberal or libertarian or socialist or troother) male always argues, to whit:
“The law doesn’t LITERALLY use the words ‘blacks’ or ‘Hispanics’ does it? Huh?!! Does it!?!?”
No, but it LITERALLY used the word “minorities.”
And it wasn’t technically a “law” but had the force of one:
Rewind to 1994. That year, the federal government declared war on an enemy — the racist lender — who officials claimed was to blame for differences in homeownership rate, and launched what would prove the costliest social crusade in U.S. history.
At President Clinton’s direction, no fewer than 10 federal agencies issued a chilling ultimatum to banks and mortgage lenders to ease credit for lower-income minorities or face investigations for lending discrimination and suffer the related adverse publicity. They also were threatened with denial of access to the all-important secondary mortgage market and stiff fines, along with other penalties. (…)
The regulatory missive, which had the effect of law, advised lenders to bend “customary” underwriting standards for minority homebuyers with poor credit.
“Applying different lending standards to applicants who are members of a protected class is permissible,” it said. “In addition, providing different treatment to applicants to address past discrimination would be permissible.”
To that end, lenders were directed to “make changes in marketing strategy or loan products to better serve minority segments of the market.”
They were also advised to “change commission structures” to encourage brokers and loan officers to “lend in minority and low-income neighborhoods” — a practice Countrywide Financial, the poster boy of the subprime scandal, perfected.
The government now condemns the practice it once encouraged as “predatory.”
***
That’s how the real world works, dear; laws — and therefore the politicians who write and pass them — don’t matter, only bureaucrats and regulations do. Your high school “social studies” textbooks, with all their “levels of government” charts and stuff, are at least 50 years out of date.
But carry on thinking you’re smarter than me.
