Ross Douthat Quotes

Equal opportunity for all, special privilege for none.

I think women benefit from being in places and having positions where the quality of work is the criteria, not what you look like. Not every place is like that.

One of the things that I'm very proud to stand up and yell about is that we need to end gatekeeping in our society. We need to stop people from saying, 'You need to pass the test if you're going to come in here and do this.'

I'm all for diversity - but diversity for deserving people.

We are building a country where a person's prospects are determined by their own initiative and hard work and not by the color of their skin, place of birth, gender, language, or income of their parents.

I think a lot of moral debates are not over what is the basis of justice, but who gets a ticket to play in the game.

You need to mesh the voices of people with expertise and meritocracy.

I want to be elected on my own ability. Only then do you have progress... People should not use race as a basis for labelling me.

We've heard the excuses from those responsible for hiring that they don't want to take a chance on a new director. But the truth is that the industry hires new directors all the time; it's just that most of them are white males.

I do believe that every person has an equal opportunity to be a good and wise judge regardless of their background or life experiences.

That's what liberalism is all about, is promoting incompetence on the basis it's fair, because people would be the best if they weren't discriminated against.

The Army has carried the American ideal to its logical conclusion. Not only do they prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, creed and color, but also on ability.

The court that serves America should reflect America.

Equal Rights for All, Special Privileges for None.

I am working for the time when unqualified Blacks, Browns and women join the unqualified men in running our government.

Nobody voted for me on account of my origins. People voted for me because of what I am and what I stand for.

I'd like to think that the door is always open for just the best actor for the role, you know? Race or gender shouldn't have anything to do with it, unless the character or story is focused on that for some particular reason.

I think it's worth putting energy into affirmative action in terms of having diversity in positions of power because the door was shut for so long.

It was a given at UCSB that if there was a role that called for a person of color, it was going to be handed to me. There were certain times when maybe I didn't try as hard. Going to Yale was a way more diverse experience.

There are so many more women and men who deserve opportunities. People of color. Period.

What women need are not benefits and advantages but a merit-based selection process that will allow them to automatically benefit from various opportunities.

I would never bring in a player to make a statement.

Everyone in the street where I grew up was given the same message: You can be anything; you can do anything. That wasn't extraordinary; that was ordinary for us. My folks didn't believe in black exceptionalism. There's nothing exceptional about 'You can have that, too' - except when it comes to justice. You can't have that.

If you exclude a group of people from the boardroom or the leadership ranks of a company, the company is not as good as it could be.

Win on your merit, not your skin color.