The
State Department
has
asked
Congress for $76 million to spend worldwide on “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” It’s a bad idea, and Congress should not appropriate even 76 cents.
The Left
has made DEI a divisive racket. Rather than ensuring equal rights, it causes distraction, exclusion, and inequality in which skin color and “gender expression” trump equal standards for all.
THE PRIDE FLAG IS NOW THE FLAG OF AMERICAN EMPIRE
The “message from the Secretary of State” outlining a DEI “strategic plan” makes two statements completely at odds with the department’s proper focus.
“Our country’s diversity is our greatest strength,” writes top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken. No, it is not. Plenty of other countries have diverse populations. What sets the United States apart is our commitment to the Constitution and the rule of law. The Biden State Department is making a fetish of external physical characteristics, contradicting the American creed.
Two sentences later, Blinken gets worse, saying, “I will
measure the success of my tenure
based on how well we can recruit and retain a workforce that looks like America.”
This is ludicrous. The sole legitimate measure of success is how well the secretary of state advances and secures the nation’s interests. It matters not at all whether the diplomatic corps and support staff have 27 skin hues or just one or how gender fluid they are. What matters is that foreign nations act in concert with U.S. aims rather than against them. What matters is whether the world is made more or less safe and free for U.S. citizens and U.S. commerce.
Alas,
the plan
is full of distractions from these important missions, such as a requirement for “promoting recruitment activity across the diversity spectrum and implementing a comprehensive recruitment plan that targets underrepresented groups.” And there’s the “survey” of the DEI “climate” that includes “chronicling the historic impact of discrimination through a digital storytelling campaign.”
It does not advance U.S. diplomacy to create a digital campaign describing how allegedly discriminatory past hiring practices were. This isn’t statecraft; it’s self-flagellation.
The “equity” part of DEI runs afoul of U.S. constitutional principles. The Left defines “equity” as materially similar results, often necessitating unequal distribution of resources or considerations depending on ethnicity. Toward that end, Blinken’s document
“strongly” supports
the U.N. Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, to which President Joe Biden has appointed a man who,
advocating racial “reparations,”
calls the U.S. criminal justice system a “continuation of slavery.”
Obsession with diversity offends allies with different values (such as by flying the gay rainbow flag at the Vatican) and honors corrupt organizations (by hoisting the Black Lives Matter flag at embassies worldwide).
U.S. law already protects civil rights. These, along with civil service laws, provide all necessary safeguards against discrimination, ensuring a level playing field.
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Massive DEI bureaucracies are wasteful and counterproductive. Every federal agency should be able to get by with a small staff of civil rights compliance officers, bolstered by civil rights enforcement at the Justice Department.
The American system without DEI is designed so merit will rise. “What America has always stood for,” said Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) at a congressional budget hearing on June 13, “is very simply the best man, the best woman for the job.” That should be enough.
