Gramm on Civil Rights & Affirmative Action
Excerpts from Face the Nation Speech.  February 19, 1995.

I don't use the term affirmative action, because most people don't know
what you're talking about when you're talking about it. If by affirmative
action you mean going the extra mile to see that people get an opportunity
to get on the playing field of life and compete, that contractors get an
opportunity to submit bids, that we go the extra effort to give everybody a
fair chance -- I'm for that. But if I become president, since most quotas,
preferences and set-asides -- hard targets for outcome of the competition --
are set by executive order -- if I become president, by executive order I
will overturn quotas, preferences and set-asides.

I am for equal and unlimited opportunity in America. But I am for special
privilege for no one. There is no fair way to decide who succeeds other than
free and fair competition. It's what Abraham Lincoln called a fair chance
and an open road. That's what I believe in, it's what I am committed to.
It's the American way. And as president I will have put my hand on the Bible
and sworn to uphold, protect and defend the Constitution. And the
Constitution has equal justice under law, and that is incompatible with
judging people based on anything but merit and hard work.