Assessing Peter Schuck's Diversity in America: Keeping Government at a Safe Distance - Introduction

Peter Schuck's Diversity In America: Keeping Government at a Safe Distance makes a thoughtful and provocative contribution to debate over the value of diversity in society and how government should regulate it. He argues that while diversity is a valuable resource, government should play a limited role in managing it, protecting diversity where it exists but not actively promoting it. Thus, he supports laws that protect existing or emerging diversity-such as laws against discrimination in education, employment, and housing-while criticizing government policies that seek to create, certify, or cultivate diversity-such as government-mandated affirmative action, diversity visas, and most forms of bilingual education.