SUBSTITUTING ABILITY, COMPETENCE AND EXPERIENCE FOR DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION:
RESULT: = DYSFUNCTIONAL GOVERNMENΤ— KAKISTOCRACY
One need not be a PhD from Harvard or Yale (of the 1950s) to discern the problems we are facing across this nation: a government of incompetents, out of its depth, unable or unwilling to control the rampant crime, sky rocketing inflation, wide open border, avoidable foreign policy disasters, emerging fears of nuclear war, racial tensions, disrespect for government and its institutions, lack of confidence in elections and their legitimacy.
How did we get here?
In the early part of the last century, the USA was still controlled by an hereditary class of early European, Dutch, English, German settlers who, more than a century earlier, had immigrated into a young nation, established themselves in business, industry, banking and government and prospered in its capitalistic system. These folks formed an elite which held on to economic and political power and created a nepotistic, hereditary economic “aristocracy”. Even as late as the 1950s our elite universities acted as the “finishing schools” for the scions of the upper crust dynastic elites such as the: Roosevelts, DuPonts, Rockefellers, Mellons and others. Entry for working class and middle class citizens to these bastions of advancement into wealth and power was limited or non existent. Government competency in hereditary systems is random— a hit or miss proposition. Heredity on occasion produces competent leaders, but just as frequently—incompetent ones. So only half the time our ancestors may have had competent government. We survived.
Population growth, expansion of the economy, as well as technological advances, and simple need for more and better trained workers, bankers, lawyers, physicians and scientists forced the hereditary elites (for their own advantage) to open the educational doors of higher institutions and other opportunities to a wider element in society. Then too the social upheaval and cultural turmoil caused by WW II, and the financial growth of the second half of the 20th Century ushered in vast social changes favoring the installation of a meritocratic system that replaced the inequality and inefficiency of an hereditary aristocracy of former times.
This new system was based on merit. In business, education, government and the portals of power it awarded access solely on competency —the best person for the position, the most qualified to fill the job, the seat in class, the legislature, or on the board of directors.
In a system in which performance is prioritized, and advancement is based only on performance, there are no racial, gender, sex orientation, age, or ethnic factors considered….only skill, work-ethic, timeliness, and dependability.. Meritocracy in the USA helped to create the wealth, technological advancements and incredible innovations of the latter part of the last century.
But in the last several decades—meritocracy has fallen out of favor. Perhaps it was just too successful. To some, the great advances in national wealth, prestige, citizen health, longevity, science, medical and technological advances simply did not reach into every corner of the nation or meet their exacting standards. Some complained that it did not provide equal wealth to all.
No, the merit system is not, and was not, perfect. Inequality, existed, as it would in any social system. Would less inequality exist in a system of socialism or communism? Those systems collapsed in the last decades because, though they did share their meager profits equally, but were incapable of providing basic needs for their citizens.
In a meritocracy where jobs and positions of authority are filled by those who are most competent, who work hard, who arrive on time and who strive for excellence —the trains run on time, the court system works, justice is served, police protect the innocent and arrest the guilty, citizens can pursue their business and their pleasures peacefully and safely. Society functions. People have jobs and go to work. Our most threatening and dangerous foreign competitor: China, functions as a meritocratic society.
When our nation gave up awarding its jobs, filling its seats in university, electing its office holders and business leaders based on their competency, ability and experience—and instead turned to substituting a policy based on externals such as a candidate’s xx or xy chromosomes, sexual orientation, or sub-dermal concentrations of melanin, competency suffers. When nations ignore merit and ability, and posit factors unrelated to function, they negate competency. In fact, while the old nepotistic system we had in the early years of the past century —based on heredity- provided a fifty-fifty, hit-or-miss level of competency, our present system is worse. It purposely selects for externals unrelated to ability or competency. In a national system which ignores merit and competency and focuses on diversity, inclusion and equity, outcomes favor incompetence, lack of experience, poor performance and —dysfunctionality
The present system is a kakistocracy—a government populated by the least suitable or competent citizens. As such, our government poorly serves all of our diverse citizens, and as well has created a nation vulnerable to our powerful foreign enemies not hobbled by our impractical, exotic, social theories.
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