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Originally Posted by john w k
Generally speaking, I oppose legislation which interferes with people’s right to mutually agree in their contracts and associations, whether in business dealings or their private lives.
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Yeah! If people want to have restrictive covenants that prevent Jews, Chinamen, or <shudder> the Irish from living in their neighborhood, opening businesses in their buildings, and marrying their daughters, they should be able to do so, gosh darnit! This is America!
As for the rest, you ignore the actual text of the 14th amendment in favor of the narrow interpretation that your political ideology requires.
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Originally Posted by The Fourteenth Amendment
nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
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The fourteenth amendment does not say "any person of color", or add to the end "...on the basis of race or color." It says "any person."
The fifth section of the 14th amendment also gives Congress the power to enforce this. In other words, Congress has the power to enforce equal protection of the laws for all persons. That's what it did when it passed the ERA.
You clearly want the U.S. to go back to the federalism of 1789, but many of the constitutional amendments have shifted that balance of power, especially the 14th.