XPost: alt.politics.equality, talk.politics.guns, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics, alt.politics.usa.congress   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   Do Americans want a functioning society or one that obsesses over being   
   diverse, equitable and inclusive? You can only have one, not both.   
      
   Liberal Democrats clearly value DEI — that trendy trinity of diversity,   
   equity and inclusion — above all else. They use the federal government to   
   pressure private businesses to hire based on skin color or sexuality, and   
   dangle incentives for schools to warn students against the treachery of   
   “White privilege.” President Biden has signed multiple executive orders   
   intended to “cultivate a workforce that draws from the full diversity of   
   the nation.”   
      
   But far too many times in the pursuit of these DEI ideals, competence is   
   lost and racism and bigotry are enhanced.   
      
   In 2013, for example, under the directive of then-President Barack Obama   
   (who initiated the DEI craze), the Federal Aviation Administration was   
   ordered to scrap a hiring list of more than 1,000 graduates of air traffic   
   control schools so officials could add a new biological test that would   
   “diversify” the workforce.   
      
   The move was in response to complaints from the National Black Coalition   
   of Federal Aviation Employees, which argued that only 9.5% of FAA workers   
   were Black, compared with 17.6% Black representation in the federal   
   civilian workforce overall. The FAA was instructed to increase its number   
   of Black workers by 8.1%.   
      
   But to do that, the agency lowered its standards and leaned into anti-   
   Black stereotypes. An applicant was awarded 15 points — the highest   
   possible for any question — if they said their lowest grades in high   
   school were in science, and 10 points if the candidate had not been   
   employed in the past three years, according to a lawsuit filed by the   
   Mountain States Legal Foundation.   
      
   By contrast, applicants were awarded only 2 points if they had a pilot’s   
   certificate and no points for having a control tower operator rating or   
   experience with instrument flight rules.   
      
   Last month, after a series of close calls on runways across the U.S.,   
   aviation experts warned the Senate that the shortage of competent air   
   traffic controllers was endangering the public.   
      
   The aviation safety system is “showing clear signs of strain that we   
   cannot ignore,” said Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Safety   
   Transportation Board, which is charged with investigating near collisions   
   and other safety incidents, at the hearing.   
      
   In June, the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General   
   found that 77% of air traffic control facilities were short-staffed.   
      
   If only the FAA could hire based on competence, not on the need to meet   
   DEI mandates.   
      
   The federal government is pushing its farcical DEI preferences on private   
   businesses as well — suing them for hiring based on capability or   
   suitability for the vacancy in question.   
      
   Mr. Biden’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Fresno,   
   California-based Meathead Movers for hiring a young, athletic workforce.   
   The reason? Age discrimination.   
      
   “Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is over 50. I’m pretty sure he would be good at   
   moving boxes,” Bill Alvarado Rivera, senior vice president for litigation   
   at AARP, told The Wall Street Journal. “That kind of stereotype about who   
   could be a good mover has no place in an economy that values individuals.”   
      
   Meathead Movers executives said they would be happy to hire ‘The Rock,’   
   it’s just that he — and lots of other 50-year-olds — have never applied.   
      
   “We are 100% open to hiring anyone at any age if they can do the job,”   
   company owner Aaron Steed told the Journal. “People love working at   
   Meathead, or they are turned off by how hard it is. You have to move   
   furniture and run to get more.”   
      
   What is a moving company supposed to do? Recruit in an old folks’ home,   
   where it would likely attract no applicants or applicants who aren’t up to   
   the job? Significantly, the EEOC lawsuit was generated by the government   
   agency, not by a specific complaint against Meathead Movers.   
      
   The federal government often uses grant programs to coerce private or   
   local entities to take up the mantle of DEI. For example, Mr. Biden’s   
   Department of Education has spent $244 million on DEI grants, and the   
   State Department $12 million on advancing LGBTQ issues.   
      
   Merit is out, equality is in.   
      
   This obsession with DEI will only lead to a more discriminatory, more   
   divisive, less talented and less productive society. Decisions will be   
   based not on the quality of character, but on the ability to tick the   
   right boxes on an inclusionary checklist.   
      
   And things won’t work as well as they should.   
      
   • Kelly Sadler is the commentary editor at The Washington Times.   
      
   https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/dec/12/democrats-war-on-   
   american-competence/   
      
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