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We all want what’s good.

From a toddler dreaming of a rock candy mountain to Thomas Sowell warning us about

unintended consequences,

everyone has their own vision of how to make things better.

The problem is simple and maddening.

We can’t all have our solutions at once.

It’s a gut punch when your ideas finally start taking hold,

only for a new administration to sweep in with a different plan that bulldozes

everything you built.

This political pendulum has frozen real progress for decades.

So the question becomes, can there be more than one solution?

Theoretically, yes.

But are we fooling ourselves into accepting second and third best answers just

because they sound compassionate?

That brings me to DEI,

diversity,

equity,

and inclusion,

and the old parable,

doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result,

is the definition of insanity.

Let’s break it down.

Diversity — Organic diversity can be encouraged.

It can grow naturally when opportunity is broad, fair, and merit-based.

But the courts have made it clear you cannot force it.

Every time government declares a social goal and tries to impose it through

coercion,

the Supreme Court eventually steps in and says,

no,

that’s not how this works.

Equity

This is where the wheels come off.

Equity is often confused with equality.

Equality says, everyone must end up in the same place.

That’s not compassion.

That’s economic chemotherapy.

It kills the healthy cells right along with the sick ones.

Let’s address the fantasy scenario people love to throw around.

We could just take Elon Musk’s wealth and give it to the poor

First, Elon doesn’t have a trillion dollars sitting in a checking account.

His worth is tied up in companies, stocks, and assets that employ real people.

But let’s play along.

Say he liquidates everything and somehow hands out 800 billion dollars in cash.

That gives every American about $2,500.

And in the process,

tens of thousands of employees lose their jobs,

entire companies collapse,

supply chains break,

secondary businesses fold,

innovation stalls,

investment dries up,

congratulations,

equity achieved.

We’re all equally stuck in the lower middle class.

This is not how a thriving economy works.

Capitalism built the American standard of living.

It’s why the rest of the world spent decades trying to imitate us.

Inclusion — Mandatory inclusion through quotas is not only illegal, it’s corrosive.

It undermines the merit-based system that built every major advancement we enjoy.

When you force outcomes instead of rewarding excellence, you don’t lift people up.

You lower the ceiling for everybody.

The collapse of DEI

DEI is collapsing on three fronts

Legally,

landmark court cases are striking down coercive DEI policies

Socially,

a growing portion of the population is openly rejecting it

Politically,

a new administration campaigned explicitly on merit-based solutions and won a

majority of states on that message Corporations are quietly backing away States are

scrubbing DEI mandates from their books

Damages are being paid to people harmed by these policies.

Funding is evaporating.

The writing is on the wall.

A better path forward.

A no thumb on the scale merit system would unleash the maximum number of capable

workers and raise the floor for everyone.

Pair that with corporate-supported training programs co-opted with government where

appropriate,

and you get something DEI never delivered.

Real opportunity.

Real mobility.

Real skills.

Real jobs.

Helping people reach the first rung of the ladder without kicking someone else off

is the only sustainable model.

There are plenty of jobs,

and as long as we don’t strip wealth from the people who create businesses,

there will be plenty more.

Businesses create other businesses,

businesses create jobs,

and jobs create dignity,

stability,

and upward mobility.

That’s the America that works.

did I get any of this wrong the only way we get to the truth is with honest

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