On the “Fair Employment Opportunity Act”

To the gentle reader,

It appears that Congress is taking up the “Fair Employment Opportunity Act,” which would make it a Federal crime for businesses to discriminate against the unemployed in their hiring practices.  Here is a link to the page of a congresswoman who introduced it:

http://delauro.house.gov/release.cfm?id=3146

While I am sure the supporters of the bill have the best of intentions, this sort of Federal power grab is exactly the sort of micromanaging regulation that is driving our country into the ground.  If a business wishes to cut its throat by not considering a sizable part of the available pool of talent, it should be allowed to do so.

Proponents of the bill speak of discrimination and of the need to eliminate it.  They confuse discrimination on the basis of who a person is (such as belonging to a particular ethnic group or having a particular sex) with discrimination on the basis of what a person does.  The latter form of discrimination, far from being evil, is both good and absolutely necessary for our society to function.  If a judge did not discriminate between the guilty and the innocent when passing sentence, there would be gross miscarriages of justice.  If a policeman did not discriminate between the person speeding and the person obeying the speed limit when pulling people over, highways would be chaos.  If a company did not discriminate between employees and non-employees when handing out paychecks, it would go out of business in very short order.

The bill’s supporters also speak of a “right to work” or a “right to apply for a job.”  These rights are not found anywhere in the Constitution.  The “right to work” may in fact exist, if a person can find work for himself; it is not the same, however, as a “right to force a company to hire me.”  The latter “right” places an undue burden on somebody else.  The “right to apply for a job” falls into the same category:  it forces a company to spend time, resources, and money.  This imposition of a burden on somebody else marks the boundary beyond which a person’s “right to work” does not extend.

Please contact your elected representatives and ask them to oppose this bill.  While it is well-intentioned, it is also seriously misguided and is a perfect example of a Federal government run amok in trying to micromanage our lives.

– John F. Fay