Get free daily email updates

Syndicate this site - RSS

Recent Posts

Blogger Menu

Click here to blog

Bruce Bialosky

Real Life Effects of Equity

The current attempt to turn our society on its head by establishing equity as the standard for advancement instead of excellence has become quite apparent. The failures are right in front of us.

Two shining examples that glare at us daily are visible members of our federal government. The first is our transportation secretary. We all knew he had no qualifications to run this department. His only notable experience is being mayor of a city whose population is less than double the number of transportation department employees (103,353 residents versus 55,000 employees). How could this not be seen as a train wreck (no pun intended) waiting to happen?

This is a person who wants to be taken seriously, yet regularly behaves in a non-serious manner. Just the fact that he was caught being driven to work and then getting off at a certain point and riding his bike (notably with a helmet) the remainder of the way tells you how his mind works.

Then there was the incident of him disappearing for two months. He is not the only cabinet member to disappear for an extended period as Xavier Becerra, Health and Human Services Secretary, has been known to disappear for periods of time during health-related issues of national importance. He is another cabinet member who has zero experience in an area of significant importance. He was chosen because of his family heritage as opposed to any ability to perform the tasks at hand.

It is inexcusable that our transportation secretary decided to take two months for paternity leave during a major shipping crisis when hundreds of freighters were sitting off the coast unable to be unloaded. The fact that he did not announce to the nation he was taking this leave shows he was trying to hide it. He is not one of the 55,000 employees in the department where their duties can be shifted to someone else. He chose to be a member of the president’s cabinet and just walked away from his position.
The latest episode displays his feebleness. The catastrophe in East Palestine cried out for leadership. There were federal employees on the scene, but no one was running the show. He made the flabbergasting comment that there are a thousand train derailments a year, alluding to the fact this East Palestine disaster is just a common occurrence. The fact that train derailments have been cut in half in the last 20 years counters his childish comment.

The other aspect of the situation displaying his lack of seriousness is his being part of an administration crowing about one of their “biggest” accomplishments — $1.2 trillion approved for infrastructure. It is quite apparent that trains for shipping goods and materials are an essential part of our infrastructure. He should have been out telling us of their plans to cut train derailments in half again in the next ten years. We would know of the plans to improve our infrastructure for trains, boats, and planes and maybe even cars if we had a serious department head.

Few if any plans have been announced for updates to our transportation infrastructure updated because we have an unserious person performing his position in an unserious manner who would have been relieved of his duties if he did not have his position because of equity. In fact, that seems to be the only topic he talks about – equity.

Then there is the other glaring example of the failure of equity. The current White House Press Secretary was, is and will continue to be a national embarrassment. She has not displayed any ability to perform this important job. Communicating the policies of this Administration on behalf of the President is an essential responsibility. Contrast her with John Kirby, who has taken on additional responsibilities because of her manifest weaknesses and his performance only magnifies her inability to perform her tasks. Because of ‘equity’ she cannot be fired.

These are just part of the damage this Administration has done because of their equity agenda. Just recently they repeated something done in a very public manner many times before. They announced the position of Vice-Chair of the Federal Reserve will be chosen based on diversity. They are so proud of their path that they must crow about it. They unfortunately are unmindful that the candidate’s credibility is damaged before the individual has a chance to validate any rationale for the selection. If they were only quiet and went through the selection process with the same result, their candidate would not be branded as chosen only to fill a list of characteristics instead of being the most qualified.

The recently lurched into their “equity’ bag to nominate Julie Su to be Labor Secretary. She fled the state of California having supervised $40 billion of fraudulent unemployment payments. Does anyone believe she would not be standing if it were not for ‘equity’.

These shining examples of promoting people because of a woke checklist instead of their experience and skills may be important to some people. The rest of us view the choices as a failure. We want people in charge due to their skills and personal qualities as opposed to superficial characteristics in an attempt to assuage some perceived wrongs of the past.

When are we going to get back to honoring what we built this country on – hard work, brains and talent?