DOUGLAS MACKINNON: This land is your land. This land is my land. But it’s not a DEI land
Recently, I was on an extended business trip across the United States that ultimately touched upon planes, trains, automobiles, ships, bridges and majestic skyscrapers. Along the way, I honestly paused in awe to marvel at modern jetliners; the engines pulling passenger and freight trains cross-country; driverless taxis; four-football-field-long megacruise ships; the George Washington and the Golden Gate bridges; and 60-story-plus office towers in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
As I pondered them all over the course of the trip, I had two immediate thoughts. The first being that, in one way or another, those modes of transportation and that stunning and often historic infrastructure all held human life within and upon them. The second was that all were devised and built via meritocracy.
DEI, identity politics and woke dictates played no role in their construction. Nor should they ever, when what is being designed and built will eventually determine the safety of human lives.
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My third and overriding thought was: "That’s all about to be thrown out the window once the ‘religion’ of wokeism comes roaring back into play across the spectrum of our lives." If you think otherwise, I most humbly believe you either have not been paying attention to current events or are fooling yourself via the cliché: "Ignorance is bliss."
To be clear, I don’t care if someone is female, male, Black, White, brown, straight, gay, trans, liberal, conservative, faith-based or an atheist. If that person happens to be the best person for the job based solely upon merit and real-world experience, they should get it. Period.
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But if that person is being inserted into the flight deck of a commercial aircraft; the control tower of an airport; the bridge of a military or commercial ship; behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler; into a police force or fire department; or behind the controls of a major utility simply because of "identity politics," then the lives in the hands of those occupations are exposed to much higher risk simply to appease an ideological narrative.
There are many people — myself included — who strongly believe that DEI never went away. That it was never "defeated" or "crippled." Rather, we believe that it was placed in a purposeful "sleeper mode" by the powerful prophets of "woke" who were simply biding their time while riding out the peak influence of President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement.
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If the Democrats retake control of the House of Representatives — and quite possibly the Senate — on Nov. 3, expect those identity-politics-pushing prophets to signal their various flocks to fire up the DEI machines across the corporate, academic, political, media and governmental spectrums.
As a stark reminder of the malicious power DEI can wield, we have these exposés: the first being the recent report from the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) which outlined in detail that his agency uncovered "irrefutable evidence that the nation's largest banks have denied, debanked and discriminated against customers and lawful businesses."
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No surprise at all that many of those targeted were conservative or faith-based. Regarding this seemingly DEI-fueled discrimination, Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould stressed in part: "Americans should have access to financial services regardless of their beliefs, affiliations, or political views."
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., told Fox News Digital: "Debanking Americans over faith or politics is simply un-American. Expect to hear more from the Banking Committee on this important issue when Congress returns."
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U.S. banks targeting elements of their own customer base because of politics and faith because they happen to operate via the dictates of woke and staffed via identity politics is not only chilling, but dangerous. And yet, such illicit conduct not only exists, but might soon be dialed up to "blast."
Going back to the DEI-compromised airline industry, we first have this recent editorial from The Wall Street Journal: "Flying the Socialist Skies at United CEO Scott Kirby wants a wealth tax. How about more leg room instead?"
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Kirby, who, according to the Journal, made over $32 million in compensation last year, now wants to tackle "wealth inequality" in the United States. Of course he does. Not surprising, as he has seemingly long been a fan of woke and DEI.
Back in 2021, Kirby pushed DEI hiring practices to the max by stating in part: "Over the next decade, United will train 5,000 pilots who will be guaranteed a job with United after they complete the requirements of the Aviate program — and our plan is for half of them to be women and people of color."
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Kirby continued: "We're excited that JPMorgan Chase has agreed to support our work to diversify our pilot ranks and create new opportunities for thousands of women and people of color who want to pursue a career in aviation."
JPMorgan. Interesting. Would anyone be surprised to learn that JPMorgan has also been implicated in the "debanking" scandal?
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I have a wild idea for Kirby: How about hiring only the most-qualified pilots based entirely upon merit? And if half of them happen to be women and minorities, all the better.
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The planes we fly; the ships we sail; the trains that move us from city to city; the bridges we cross; and the skyscrapers we ascend via elevator are all testaments to genius and meritocracy. But very soon, all may be designed and built not by the most qualified, but someone who checks an ideological identity politics box.
DEI is about to come back with a vengeance if political control switches hands on Nov. 3. If — and when — it does, the lives of countless Americans will be put at more risk in service to woke over merit.