Growing up in Keyport, New Jersey, sports played a big role in my life. Naturally, I became an enthusiastic fan of the New York Yankees, Giants, and Knicks. Every year, I hoped one of my teams had the best shot and dreamed they would win the championship. After each season, my friends and I turned to the draft or free agency, eagerly discussing new player acquisitions. It’s been exciting to watch how “fantasy” sports have evolved to the point that they’ve become a sport of their own.
When drafting for a sports team, the focus has always been on improving the current roster. Who is the fastest, strongest, or most durable? Who can improve the team’s chances of winning a championship? I’ve never heard — and still don’t hear — anyone say they’re looking for the most diverse player to promote equity. A sports team’s goal is to win.
If we don’t abandon forced DEI policies in our government, military, and corporations, our entire economy and national security will become a joke.
Thomas Jefferson penned the famous phrase in our Declaration of Independence: “All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
What a powerful message. It’s the foundation of our society and government. We also know it’s an ideal we aspire to and that, in this country and worldwide, not everyone has been treated equally. Since the beginning of time, people have restricted others’ freedoms. Even today, millions around the world are trapped in slavery and don’t enjoy the freedom of religion, speech, or movement — freedoms we sometimes take for granted as Americans.
Even though mankind has abased it, the universal truth of freedom remains intact, which is why me must continue to fight for it in its ideal form every day.
However, equality of opportunity doesn’t mean we all have equal abilities or should achieve equal outcomes. Just as sports teams scout for new talent, not everyone can dunk a basketball, hit a home run, invent lifesaving medicine, run a business, or lead a country.
We all have an inner drive to compete, succeed, and win, but not always in the same way or with the same results. Consider some of the greatest success stories of the past century: Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Sam Walton, Madam C.J. Walker, Oprah Winfrey, and Bill Gates. They all were highly motivated, willing to fail, and competitive and had a strong understanding of what people wanted. They were also intellectually gifted beyond many of their peers.
Instead of forcing everyone to be equal in drive and intellect or imposing redistributive government policies, our Founding Fathers fought for the freedom of these gifted, driven individuals to succeed. As a result, the nation has become far better for everyone. The United States is undeniably the world’s leader in technology, medicine, food production, and military strength.
Over the past 35 years, I’ve hired hundreds of people who were the best and brightest and who understood what we aimed to accomplish with our company.
The primary danger of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs is that they impose a new kind of slavery, shackling the best and brightest with the chains of the lowest common denominator. This approach benefits no one.
Do passengers want the most diverse pilot or the best pilot? Do cancer patients want the most diverse doctors or the best doctors? Do baseball teams win championships because they have the most diverse players or the best players?
Everyone should have the opportunity to compete for any job, with the same rules and minimum standards applying to all. However, DEI quotas at any level are wrong and anti-American, and they contribute to failure.
And for those who truly believe in DEI, stop with the hypocrisy. Demand that goods produced with slave labor in communist China or other repressive regimes be immediately banned in the United States. Demand that all sports teams immediately reflect the proportion of skin color among Americans. That would be something to watch in the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball. Actually, it would be something no one would watch because it would be a joke.
If we don’t abandon forced DEI policies in our government, military, and corporations, our entire economy and national security will become a joke as well.
End DEI. Let freedom and human ingenuity run wild. This will ensure that America’s greatness will never be in doubt.
Dei, Diversity equity inclusion, Sports, Equality, Equality vs. equity, Opinion & analysis, Politics