By Rick Manning
“There’s an attack right now on diversity, equity, and inclusion… where supposed, so-called extreme leaders are suggesting it’s a bad thing to care about and pay attention to inequities, to say DEI is a bad thing, when in fact, if we want fair outcomes, we must understand what are disparities and then accommodate and adjust for those disparities, if we want equal outcomes.”
That was Vice President Kamala Harris outlining her vision for equity and “equal outcomes” at a panel at Hampton University in Virginia in Sept. 2023.
Equity sounds like such a benign concept, often confused with its sister word, equality. But the two words have very different meanings.
Equality is equal opportunity under the law. Where every American can achieve according to their abilities and the work they put into it regardless of race, color, creed or religion.
Equity means equal outcomes. Where every American is allocated the same amount of wealth regardless of their achievement, effort or value they add.
Harris understands this important distinction because she stated, “if you don’t start on the same base — everybody can have an equal amount — you’re still not going to end up on the same base, right? If we want equal outcomes, we need to take into account not everybody starts out on the same base. And we have to make adjustments.”
Why does this matter?
Because this is no different than Karl Marx’s “From each according to his ability to each according to his needs” in his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Programme.
This is the presumptive Democrat nominee for president, Kamala Harris, on record as supporting equity over equality, where she declared that she wants to “put equity firmly at the center of our economic policy,” as she told U.S. Department of Treasury in Dec. 2021.
While it should not come as any surprise that the left favors redistribution of wealth and the right less so, it used to be rare for a candidate to so blatantly declare the desire to use government to force “equal outcomes.” But post-fundamental transformation neo-Marxism is the new normal and Kamala Harris’ support for equal outcomes should not surprise.
When taken in the context of the insistence by the left that they are “defending” democracy, it is important to remember that true democracy can be explained as two big kids coming up to a third kid and voting two to one to take his bicycle, which was why the Framers settled on a constitutional limited government instead with the separation of powers and property rights duly protected under law.
Vice President Harris’ constant refrain about reimagining the world “unburdened by what has been,” as she told administration officials at the Eisenhower Office Building in March 2022, clearly demonstrates her willingness to use draconian measures to achieve equity through forced redistribution by a government unmoored from constitutionally restrictions.
In this broader context it becomes more obvious that using government to achieve equal outcomes ends the precept of equal treatment under the law, since when outcomes are unequal, whether on the basis of race, sex or something else, the government must, per Harris, “adjust for those disparities.”
Equal outcomes means that the doctor who sacrificed and went to school for a decade receiving extensive training while sacrificing the first thirty years of his or her life to become a brain surgeon should be compensated the same as a drugged out high school drop-out who contributes nothing of value.
Equal outcomes means that the inventor who poured his heart, soul and wealth into creating a new way to convert hydrogen into fuel for private vehicles should have that invention forcibly taken away by the government and made free for anyone to use with the inventor getting no extra compensation or value for his dedication, investment and sacrifice.
Equal outcomes means that everyone playing in the National Basketball Association gets paid the same as anyone in any other job. But, since the decision of who gets to play in the NBA will be made based upon a talent-blind selection system, it is doubtful that anyone would watch it anyway.
Equal outcomes means that the student who studies to get grades to allow them to go to the college of their choice will then be put into a weighted merit-free lottery of all students to determine admissions.
So, under this equity equation why would anyone strive to achieve?
They wouldn’t. This is why societies which try to force equal outcomes fail.
What Kamala Harris and her ilk won’t tell the voting public is that she supports unconstitutional affirmative action college admissions standards which discriminate against Asian-American and white students in clear violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment.
She won’t tell you that equity is the excuse for lowering qualification standards so that underrepresented groups can qualify for a job that they physically cannot perform. In fact, the entire Diversity, Equity and Inclusion movement is designed to force hiring quotas that have little to do with the ability to succeed in the job in clear violation of the Civil Rights Act and the Fourteenth Amendment on the same basis.
And it should surprise no one that a candidate chosen for the Vice Presidency due to the color of her skin and sex, should embrace the same standard that led to her ascension.
Kamala Harris is the completion of the fundamental transformation of America. The only question is whether the country reject her radical ideology — or embrace it.
Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government.
