Tony Brown, the host of the PBS show "Tony Brown's Journal," once told me that liberals fail to appreciate that "the real color of true freedom is green." What he meant by that is that unless you live in a socialist state, the power of markets to protect you from discrimination will consistently trump the power of government to do so. We are lucky in this country that most of our constitutional freedoms have remained intact for over 200 years. But in most countries, most of the time political gains by minorities or marginalized groups have been tenuous. In a democracy, 51% of the people or a majority of Congress can decide that racial and gender preferences should be eliminated from government programs or that welfare should no longer be an entitlement. In fact, last year those two things did happen (Proposition 209 in California, and the welfare bill signed by President Clinton.) Minorities and others who feel society deals with them unfairly would be much better served by demanding that excessive occupational licensing laws, crippling taxes and absurdly restrictive zoning be ended so they will have more economic opportunities that can help them prosper as previous marginalized groups have. The power made through the accumulation of wealth and capital isn't as easily threatened as that made through politics. Fewer people will discriminate against you if you have the money to convince such discrimination will be costly to them. In addition, as both Jewish and Asian-Americans have discovered, the clout that comes with economic success can force the political system to be far more protective and attentive to you than it is for groups who can only promise to deliver votes on Election Day.