The voluntary affirmative action plan is a paradigm shift from the American philosophy of "only merit, not privilege". Do you agree? Give two reasons

This one is tough.  No doubt about it.  If one were to
assess affirmative action in a vacuum and without any sort of context, I do believe that
an argument could be made that it goes against the American philosophy of "only merit,
not privilege."  However, I think that one cannot, in good faith, ignore context and
circumstances.  The initial supposition here would be to question the American
philosophy of "only merit, not privilege."  This premise presumes that everyone in
America starts off at the same commencement, faces the same hurdles, and there is not a
set of social and political institutional conditions that do not impact some more than
others.  We simply know this to be not true.  At the same time, I think it also presumes
that everyone in America "gets ahead" because of "only merit, not privilege."  Once
again, we simply know this to be not true.  In my mind, questioning the premise of the
philosophy has to be done in order to assess whether or not affirmative action does
change paradigms in American culture.  I can see how affected individuals would respond
to affirmative action in such a manner, believing it to violate American philosophy. 
Yet, I think the reality of social conditions and contexts that impact different
Americans in different ways have to be accounted and questioning the notion of what
"hard work" means in said different conditions and contexts are of vital importance. 
All of this is to underscore that another premise of American philosophy is the idea
that power distribution and representation should follow or echo the will of the
people.  American thought has not been an advocate of one group or one body controlling
everything in the position of power.  Representation has been a stated and theoretical
reality that has been sought.  In this light, affirmative action does meet this aspect
of American philosophy.