Can We Manage to Integrate?

One lesson from America's two-decade Afghanistan debacle is that you can't achieve success if you can't define it. A political goal is seldom attai...

September 8, 2022
5:38 AM

One lesson from America's two-decade Afghanistan debacle is that you can't achieve success if you can't define it. A political goal is seldom attained if every description of it sounds vague or arbitrary; it cannot be realized by any known policy mechanism; and it draws strong opposition from foes while earning only tepid support from putative constituents. Housing integration is no exception. As a senator, Walter Mondale was a leading congressional sponsor of the Fair Housing Act. After its 1968 enactment, he said that the law's purpose was to replace ghettos by means of 'truly integrated and balanced living patterns.

William Voegeli