The Need For Affirmative Action Affirmative action has been the subject of increasing debate and tension in American society. The debate has been more emotional than intellectual, and has generated more tension than shed light on the issue. Participants in the debate have over examined the ethical and moral issues that affirmative action raises while forgetting to examine the system that has created the need for them. Too often, affirmative action is looked upon as the remedy for a nation once ill with the virulent disease of racial discrimination. Affirmative action is, and should be seen as, a temporary, partial, and perhaps even fla