About four years ago I wrote in one of my articles that President Obama should implement more Executive Orders in order to move government forward because some in the Republican Party would not work with him no matter what he did. I took this approach based on my personal experience in corporate America and that some people in Congress are still fighting the Civil War.
From my experience of working in Human Resources throughout Southern California, I often came in contact with people who were still fighting the Civil War and did not want Blacks, Latinos, Asians or Jews in the company. I recall one instance where an administrator had a confederate flag hanging on the wall behind his desk to send a message to every one of his beliefs. It did not take too long after our equal opportunity policies were implemented that the flag came down and he was no longer employed with the company. There were others who would put up obstacles and offer excuses for not wanting to implement policies that would give equal opportunity to people of color and women. The health care field is one career where females comprised over 80% of the workforce yet none were in leadership positions other than nursing.
Of course that has changed but it took President Johnson signing Executive Order 11246 that ushered in Affirmative Action programs if you wanted to do business with the federal government or keep your contract. If Johnson had not done that, many people, men and women of every race, would not be working today in their chosen career.
It was the president who implemented this order, not Congress and that has not changed. It was not the U.S. Supreme Court who did that but the president that had the guts to take that action to ensure Equal Employment Opportunity for all citizens.
Many people hollered reverse discrimination which confirmed that discrimination existed for Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Indians and women in the workplace.
So I urge President Obama to take action by issuing as many Executive Orders he thinks are needed to move our government forward so we can be a country where all citizens have the opportunity to pursue life, liberty, and happiness without the fear of having to live in the shadows, fear from law enforcement, where all are able to get an education without incurring mounting debt before they even become employed, having access to financial capital for business opportunities, and having access to housing without unscrupulous lending institutions taking advantage of them.
That is the way to move government forward as our country’s top elected leader.