What If DIE Dies?

The widespread pro-Hamas demonstrations, particularly at elite universities, has, ironically, had a positive impact by alerting Americans to the ideological rot infecting higher education. They now realize that the slogan “Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity” (DIE) is not just the latest black civil rights campaign; rather, it is a race-based ideology that demonizes white civilization.  Abolishing whiteness means ending the colorblind rule of law, abolishing the merit principle, eliminating constitutionally-protected rights together with limited government and one-person-one-vote democracy, and the economic freedom and all the rest that has made America, America.  Champions of DIE envision a race-based utopia of group, not individual rights, where costs and benefits are decided by all-powerful officials based on one’s status as a member of an oppressed group.

As the diversity office at Johns Hopkins hospital put it, “White people, able-bodied people, heterosexuals, cisgender people, males, Christians, middle or owning class people, middle-aged people, and English-speaking people,” all enjoy privilege.  In this utopia, a disabled black trans lesbian would go to the head of the line for admission to MIT, and white males from an affluent family to the back. This is a transformational revolution that redefines family, what is “normal” sex, crime, how laws are enforced, and the values that guide civilized life.

DIE has infiltrated American institutions.  Those countless campus rallies demanding the genocide of Jews in Israel, exposed only a part of how higher education has been radicalized; the DIE presence on campus is substantial.  According to a 2021 Heritage Foundation report, the average university has 45 people whose jobs directly promote DIE, and there were 3.4 DIE administrators for every 100 tenure-track professors on the average campus, a bureaucracy even larger than the average university’s history department.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military is experiencing major problems attracting new recruits, and this shortfall is largely due to less interest among whites. In 2018, 56% of all enlistees were white but in 2023, this figure had fallen to 44% and much of this decline has been attributed to the military’s current anti-racism indoctrination which, in effect, is just anti-whiteness.  Strangely Boeing, a major defense contractor, funds free DIE video workshops for every public school in Arizona.

The DIE mentality permeates the federal government, even institutions that design nuclear weapons like Sandia National Laboratories.  In 2019, all white males at Sandia were required to take a three day “reeducation” program to root out their “white privilege” and “white male culture” (that included their hard work ethic).  These nuclear scientists were often humiliated and degraded solely due to their skin color (cited in Christopher Rufo’s book, p. 59).  And the DIE mania in government is growing stronger thanks to Joe Biden’s policies.

Equally shocking, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), the agency responsible for aviation safety, has likewise embraced the DIE agenda.  In their words, “Because diversity is so critical, FAA actively supports and engages in a variety of associations, programs, coalitions and initiatives to support and accommodate employees from diverse communities and backgrounds.” FAA’s “diversity” was recently broadened to include the FAA hiring those with “severe intellectual disabilities.” These deficiencies include “… hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism.”  Note that “severe mental deficiency” is clinically defined as a person with a mental age between 3 and 6.  What will such a person do at the FAA to make American skies safer?

DIE’s “accomplishments” are staggering, but now there is pushback.  Racial preferences trumping merit are finally being recognized as illegal according to the U.S. Constitution, and federal and state law.  Many high profile corporations that once energetically embraced the DIE agenda are cutting back, rather than face costly litigation.  The economic slowdown has likewise motivated corporations to cut DIE positions.  Even colleges, long the bastion of DIE, are beginning to remove specific “diversity” requirements from their job postings.  The tech industry, famous for its liberal politics, is losing its enthusiasm for diversity despite the high-sounding rhetoric.  Particularly energetic in the battle is America First Legal headed by former Trump appointee Stephen Miller who regularly appears on Fox to recount his successful lawsuits.

Opposition is also being expressed at the state level with bans, or proposed bans, ranging from what can be taught in K-12 and state-funded colleges, to state agency hiring.  Arizona’s wording is typical: “Proposed legislation would prohibit public entities from requiring employees to ‘engage in a diversity, equity and inclusion program,’ spending public funds on DEI programs, contracting with a company that ‘participates in a diversity, equity and inclusion program,’ conducting a DEI program, or hiring employees dedicated to DEI programs.”  In many GOP-dominated states, attorneys general are pressuring firms to drop anything that discriminates against whites.  Particularly important is that private companies often have contracts with state agencies, and if state agencies ban DIE, contracting firms may be liable for damages, so eliminating DIE programs shields the private firm.

Despite this growing pushback, left unsaid is an awkward question regarding undoing DIE.  What happens to all those functionaries, mostly black, whose careers are totally dependent on advancing the DIE agenda?  They range from grade school diversity assistant principals, to highly paid Ivy League deans. The University of Michigan employs some 500+ of them, and what happens if they are all fired?

Workers deemed obsolete is a familiar economic problem—what did Pony Express riders do when the railroad delivered the mail?  Many in universities can recall all the secretaries, before professors switched to word-processing software. In the case of the DIE bureaucracy, some of their essential duties can just be assigned to other departments lacking the toxic DIE ideology.

What makes this situation so perplexing is its clear-cut racial components.  The outrage would be immense if tens of thousands of middle-class blacks are suddenly unemployed.  What could a hypothetical well-paid, 50-year-old ex-Yale Dean of Inclusion do in the private sector when her job vanishes?

One plausible possibility is switching over to government jobs with minimal policy impact.  After all, government payrolls seem to expand endlessly, often with few or no job responsibilities, and new hires can easily be paid for via fresh taxes.  Our 50-year-old ex-Yale Dean of Inclusion now becomes an FAA recruiter to write brochures targeting under-represented populations without any expectation of succeeding.  A classic solution to dealing with the unemployable—put them on the public payroll with minimal tasks.

This is a costly solution, but it could be far worse.  At least the former Yale dean no longer meddles in Physics Department’s employment decisions, or insists that physics courses be “less white.”

As economists say, life is about trade-offs, and when we consider the damage that DIE ideologues have inflicted on America, the cost may be justified.  The private sector economic benefits would also be immense, and the military would meet its recruitment goals.  And eventually, these ex-DIE experts will retire, and their positions will go unfilled.  Not a perfect solution to our DIE tribulations, but matters can be far worse.  Do we really want another generation of college students absorbing racist nonsense or have FAA hiring air traffic controllers according to their sexual preferences?

Image generated by AI.