e already here, and forced to organize itself on group lines by ethnic identification, entering politics to find a way in which to obtain the rights for the group that each as an individual is supposed to have under the Constitution. Democratic stability in a multi ethnic society, such as the United States, lies within a process that permits the political mobilization of major ethnic groups and effective management of ethnic dispute that may arise from such mobilization (Cochran, 1995, p. 589).
This type of politics has also seen such actions as creating legislative districts with sufficient population of a particular ethnic group so as to insure the election of a member of that group to the particular office; such guaranteed group representation is seen as insuring social stability within the local political groups. This has recently been found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court because such action constitutes "gerrymandering" when done to create a particular racial or ethnic result (De Greiff, 2000, p. 398-99).
David Ingram, writing in "Group Rights: Reconciling Equality and Difference," says:
Because so many white Americans are of immigrant stock, one would think they would be more sympathetic to the plight of blacks. But this response has not occurred. White Americans of immigrant stock wonder why blacks have not been as successful as they have been in raising themselves out of poverty. Although one might respond to them by pointing out that Americans descended from slaves experienced a uniquely brutal form of discrimination, immigrants counter - with some justification - that they or their ancestors have also encountered hostility, if not outright discrimination (Ingram, 2000, 3).
Today, the victim status of a group seems to be the "coin of the realm" in determining who shall be the beneficiary of government programs and policies, with homosexuals and women joining the African-Americans and Latinos as th...