Skip to content

Site Navigation

  • The Atlantic
  • PopularLatestNewsletters

    Sections

    • Politics
    • Ideas
    • Fiction
    • Technology
    • Science
    • Photo
    • Business
    • Culture
    • Planet
    • Global
    • Books
    • Podcasts
    • Health
    • Education
    • Projects
    • Features
    • Family
    • Events
    • Shadowland
    • Progress
    • Newsletters
    • Explore The Atlantic Archive
    • Play The Atlantic crossword

    The Print Edition

    Latest IssuePast Issues

    Give a Gift
  • Quick Links
    • Dear Therapist
      Dear Therapist
    • Crossword Puzzle
      Crossword Puzzle
    • Magazine Archive
      Magazine Archive
    • Your Subscription
      Your Subscription
  • Popular
  • Latest
  • Newsletters
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe

Read all our coverage of Donald Trump’s indictment.

Politics

Preferences

By Matthew Yglesias
August 1, 2008
Saved Stories

It really is too bad that in this country an accident of birth can get you preferential treatment and cushy jobs, when we should be building the kind of color-blind meritocracy that would exist if we eliminated racial considerations from college admissions.