The good thing about Maxine Waters is that she doesn't have a filter.

Yesterday, at a Black Caucus Foundation town hall event, she unintentionally laid out her political philosophy on affirmative action, and it ain't pretty – a view obviously not shared by her audience, who applauded.

I want to highlight what she said, starting at 0:43 (rush transcript via Grabien), in response to a question about the "dismantling" of affirmative action.  In California, a voter initiative outlawed the state from using race as a criterion, including at the University of California.

Well you can – you can take a look at higher education and you can see, for example, with UCLA in California. It has been years since we've had the kind of representation of blacks coming into that institution that would make good sense for a state like California where, you know, black kids are graduating with 3.5, 3.9, 4. – but they couldn't get into UCLA and that has happened all over the country.

Practically all of the whites and Asians who apply to UCLA with GPAs of 3.5 to 4.0 are turned down.  Because students get an extra point for A-plus or for college-level courses, you have to be above 4.0 to get in.  Waters is ignoring the fact that overall, blacks are in the U.C. system at about the levels they were before the race ban but are at less competitive campuses, where their graduation rates are better than at the elite schools.  There is less of the mismatching, in other words. 

It gets worse:

But let me tell you one of the reasons we have not been able to really fight for affirmative action. To me black people were ashamed of affirmative action and they would say to you, 'Well no, I got in on my own. I am not a benefit – I didn't benefit from affirmative action. I was smart enough.'

Maybe she is talking about the black students who got into UCLA?

Any time you put a thumb on the scale and the recipient knows about it, an obvious insecurity is created.  That desire to feel "I did it on my own, and I deserve it" is basic to human nature.  But Maxine thinks her exhortation can overcome human nature.

Well come on people, you know? The fact of the matter is that you all of these legacy appointments of people who have relatives, who have management in these universities, and they get in because their parents gave money, because their parents are part of the alumni, et cetera. So that's real affirmative action for white people that happens in these universities. And so black people should not be ashamed – (Applause) – of affirmative action that is trying to correct the wrongs of the past. And so it has been very [harmful] in all of our universities.

Translated:

Some white people get preferences, so you should, too.

Clearly, the vast majority of white (and Asian) applicants are not privileged with legacy connections or wealth.  They largely are members of the already hated one percent.  In Waters's mind, the other 99% of whites can go to hell.  The poor white from Appalachia has so much white privilege, after all.

I am certain that Waters has never had a deep conversation with a member of the privileged class of which she speaks.  I have, and they are just as insecure about their achievements as any affirmative action beneficiary is, deep down.

If this line of reason is adopted by other Democrat thought leaders in the Black Caucus and beyond, they are telling the world that blacks deserve elevated social privilege comparable to what wealthy and connected whites get, and far better than ordinary whites and Asians.

Here is the video and complete transcript.

JOHNSON: "Can you talk a little bit about the affirmative action piece? Because I – I think people are incredibly clear on the voting rights peace and – and many people that don't know descent decrees still know that the Justice Department helped to push and support local municipalities in bringing about police reform. But – but many states have not dealt with ballot initiatives the way your state has that over a period of 20 years dismantled affirmative action —"

WATERS: "That's right."

JOHNSON: "— especially by way of education, and – and what has the impact of that been? Because I hear him talking about this false sense of equity and equality —"

WATERS: "Yes. Yes."

JOHNSON: "— but not talking about what the impact has been in places that have – have gone through it in California." [crosstalk]

WATERS: "Well you can – you can take a look at higher education and you can see, for example, with UCLA in California. It has been years since we've had the kind of representation of blacks coming into that institution that would make good sense for a state like California where, you know, black kids are graduating with 3.5, 3.9, 4. – but they couldn't get into UCLA and that has happened all over the country. But let me tell you one of the reasons we have not been able to really fight for affirmative action. To me black people were ashamed of affirmative action and they would say to you, 'Well no, I got in on my own. I am not a benefit – I didn't benefit from affirmative action. I was smart enough.' Well come on people, you know? The fact of the matter is that you all of these legacy appointments of people who have relatives, who have management in these universities, and they get in because their parents gave money, because their parents are part of the alumni, et cetera. So that's real affirmative action for white people that happens in these universities. And so black people should not be ashamed – (Applause) – of affirmative action that is trying to correct the wrongs of the past. And so it has been very [harmful] in all of our universities."