(1:45) Pete Buttigieg does a great job of explaining what the opposite of DEI is:

You must understand that when someone says they are against DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) they are in effect saying that they are in favor of the opposite concepts. As Mr. Buttigieg states in the above video, that would be Uniformity, Inequity and Exclusion.

When the current president took over he created an Executive Order to abolish DEI in the federal government. In effect, the current president was making Uniformity, Inequity and Exclusion the policy of the federal government. We have been down this road before, haven’t we.

Where in the constitution does it mention UIE? The constitution was supposedly written as rules for our government not as a sociological guide. One of our founding documents, the Declaration of Independence, is most. Well known for the phrase “All men are created equal.” We have spent the better part of 250 years trying to bring those concepts to life.

With his EO the current president has turned back the clock to the 19th century – or at least that is what he is attempting to do. Much of the corporate world seems to be in lockstep with the current president as he attempts to end DEI. Some are now finding that loyalty to be a bad decision.

What made me think of the ramifications of ending DEI was a little statement Congress Member Ashley Hinson dropped in her town hall at Elkader last Wednesday. When asked about her vote to cut Medicaid, Hinson made that “othering” statement – “some people aren’t deserving.” 

While some may take that as a statement of rules, my reaction was to immediately take it as a general assessment of society in the US – some people because of their skin color, gender, religion, zip code, whatever should not be included in society. Banning DEI is another way of saying the same thing.

In the case of corporations embracing the MAGA UIE policies are seeing that cut into their bottom lines. Well, by backing UIE they are telling a segment – a rather large segment – of their clientele that they are not wanted. How’s that working out Target? Continuing to support DEI appears to be working well for companies like Costco.

The other reason this came to mind is that we are about to enter June. June has for the most of this century been celebrated as Gay Pride month. Surely the current president will do all he can to throw a wet blanket on the proceedings, but it probably won’t slow things down a bit.

Gay people, their families and loved ones make up a sizable segment of the US population. With a president who is doing all he can to stop international trade, will corporations get behind his discriminating against gays, their families and friends? Sure seems like a very misguided policy.

Party on, says I.

Let me end with one last plea. We are more than a century behind the rest of the world in opening up health care to our citizens. There should never be some idiot congress member making a statement as to someone being “deserving” of health care. Health care should be a right as a human, period.

And aș for that “waste, fraud and abuse” that MAGAs are trumpeting that they are after. If they want to find it they should start looking in the corporate books of for profit hospitals, nursing homes, health care clinics and insurance companies. Bet that is where you will find 99% of the “waste, fraud and abuse.”