Saturday, February 20, 2016

The Diversity Myth

One of the many myths rampant in our modern politics is that the Democrat party is the party of diversity and inclusion and the Republican party is comprised of rich, white, red-necked bigots. This is what Progressives would like us to believe, but it simply doesn't conform to the facts. Consider, to take one example, the composition of the respective presidential fields. The Democrats are running two white, progressive/socialist candidates, neither of whom has ever accomplished anything outside of politics and whose average age is almost 72. The only diversity in this field is that one of them is female and the other male. Other than that it's hard to distinguish between them.

Compare that to the original Republican field which boasted an accomplished woman CEO (Carly Fiorina), an accomplished African American surgeon (Ben Carson), an Indian American governor (Bobby Jindal), two Hispanic senators (Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio), an accomplished businessman (Donald Trump), and assorted other successful state governors (John Kasich, Rick Perry, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee).

Moreover, if we want to administer another kick to the diversity myth while it's down, consider what has just happened among Republicans in South Carolina: A female governor of Indian descent (Nikki Haley) was joined by an African American senator (Tim Scott) to endorse a Hispanic senator (Marco Rubio) for the Republican nomination for president. And this, mind you, in the heart of Dixie.

As for which party is in thrall to wealthy donors keep in mind that one of the scandals hanging around Mrs. Clinton like a bad odor is the fact that she was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs just to give speeches, speeches the transcripts of which she is loath to make public. Remember, too, that many of the wealthiest people in the country are Democrats and wealthy labor and service unions pump millions of dollars into the Democratic party. The GOP does not have a monopoly on fat cats.

I'm not shilling here for the Republican party, with which I have my own disagreements, and in whose company I sit very uneasily. Nevertheless, though I personally don't see gender, race, and ethnicity as particularly important qualifications for elective office, if those things are important to people, if diversity is what voters are looking for, then the Republican party is where they'll find it.