Many conservatives argue that the policy gives preferential treatment to people from ethnic minorities, in an America which prizes pulling oneself up by the bootstraps.

A. "Booting," a common term for starting up the computer, is derived from the expression "pulling oneself up by the bootstraps."

The term to "boot a computer" was coined from the term "bootstrap" and expression "pull oneself up by the bootstraps".

He said he had been harassed by police and often lectured fellow black students about the necessity of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps, without help from others.

I would say that doubting here is like trying to pull oneself up by the bootstraps — except that someone will then come forward and perform what their picture pictures as that very trick.