While Honduras plays out its conflict between representative democracy and the deposed-president Zelaya’s socialist aspirations, Obama’s Latina nominee for the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, is caught in her own version of this conflict. I place the Sotomayor issue in the context of the battle between socialism and democracy because of her now widely reported comment:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

For the record, I am a Cuban-American, thus Hispanic, but my ethnicity does not color my politics, my judgment does, my conscience does, my heart does. For example, the fact that the administration left the Iranian protesters out to dry enrages me as much as if it were Latin people, or African people, or Italian people, or any other people that I have an ethnic or racial bond with. While experiences do enrich one’s life, it is one’s judgment that would help one reach a “better conclusion” not one’s ethnicity or race. So the question we must ask before confirming her is: if her Latina experiences make her more qualified than “white” people, as she hopes, is her judgment sufficiently objective with respect to the law or is it colored by this worldview? It is a worldview that, in the name of equality, rushes to harm one part of society to benefit another, simply on the basis of class or race or ethnicity… and it is the spirit of the socialist movements that now grip the world.

In an ironic twist, the Supreme Court, the job she’s applying for, has just reversed her ruling on a case involving reverse discrimination against white firefighters. Most people agree with the Supreme Court’s decision, both Republican and Democrat. It was an issue of qualification versus “special treatment for minorities” and Sotomayor ruled on the side of “special treatment.” While not an open and shut case, the fact that Sotomayor’s “ethnic experiences” cause her to believe that a democracy is best served when one group is given priority over another simply because of their genetics or culture make me conclude that she is not objective enough for the post. As a Hispanic, I am insulted that anyone would think that I cannot achieve some goal or place in society through merit and effort alone. As an American, I believe in equality of opportunity and such special treatment only furthers the cause of a social and economic system that uses “equality” to bludgeon individuality and personal achievement. Some say that the Republicans may lose the Latino vote by opposing Sotomayor, but to compromise American principles because of race plays into the Left’s hands. The fact that liberal elements insist on classifying people by race and ethnicity should not dissuade conservatives from seeking the only voting bloc that matters: the American voter.

-AG