newYou can now listen to Fox News articles.
The new Trump administration has a generational opportunity to restore merit and dispel the anti-meritocracy identity politics that has infected and crippled many American institutions. The same goes for governors and legislators in states where Republicans won mandates in this election.
For nearly a century, since the Pendleton Act of 1883, the federal government has used hard tests to help fill departments. Competence was a bipartisan goal. In the 20th century, leaders agreed that great talent was needed to win wars, advance science, and accomplish feats such as landing on the moon. By the 1970s, less than 10% of candidates scored high enough on the government's PACE exam to qualify for senior leadership.
These tests were phased out in the late 1970s. Because of racial disparities in results, activist courts ruled that the tests were illegal on the grounds of “differential impact,” even though they predicted job performance. Soon, the government was hiring people who would not have passed these exams: less qualified people from all backgrounds. The Democratic-controlled Congress under President Jimmy Carter from 1979 to 1980 also made it difficult to hold government officials accountable. Since then, the bureaucracy has gotten dumber and dumber.
Incoming Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin encourages identity politics with 2024 autopsy: 'Go the way of the Dodo'
Over the past decade, that stupidity has accelerated. A focus on identity politics meant that merit was actually counter-prioritised. As the Biden administration attempts to preserve various forms of racial benefits and discrimination in amber, and its broken bureaucracy continues to waste billions of dollars on a regular basis, the Republican Party gradually wakes up to its corruption. Ta.
Red state legislators and governors: The voters are on our side. The law and the courts are on our side. The administrators associated with the Awakened Institutions want you to be gentle, but your duty to our civilization demands.
Struggles began in states to counter some of these policies. The legal battle escalated, and in 2023 the Supreme Court overturned an earlier ruling on affirmative action, marking the beginning of the end for the idea that “benign” racism is acceptable in America. it's not.
Yale and Princeton universities may have illegally ignored the ruling, admitting that even fewer Asian Americans scored high this year than last year. If so, their time has arrived with Trump's victory.
Harkness Tower stands on the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut. (Photographer: Craig Warga/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Unfortunately, this corruption still exists in states that voted for Trump by 10 (or even 30) points. But a few brave leaders are starting to take notice. In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis squarely blamed the “woke” elements of state government, especially universities.
At the state level, I have seen this battle up close as president of the Cicero Institute. Our team won legislation to prevent the enforcement of the Pledge of Allegiance to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) ideology at public universities. Multiple states have adopted versions of these laws. Watering down the DEI Pledge of Allegiance is a high-stakes reform for leaders who understand what makes America work (but don't count on it in blue states). But it's a small beginning. Why not be bolder and fight for credit wherever you are under attack?
The identity politics form of leftist politics is a virus that spreads itself, funding activists and ideologues in infected cities and university departments. If we don't leverage that mission today, we may lose against the virus tomorrow.
Harris campaign funding is another opportunity to break away from identity politics
The good news is that this fight will be fought at the federal level in January. The Department of Justice will no longer defend academic racism. Congress will no longer try to divert funds based on race. Cabinet appointees no longer boast about their focus on DEI or their indifference to results. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami & Company vie for merit in Washington DC
But conservative leaders should remember that these bad ideas will not go away peacefully. A lot of money is at stake for woke NGOs, universities, and others who benefit from government discontent. And even red states still fund woke faculties, ideologically controlled universities, hospitals, and far-left nonprofits with no accountability. Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia: In these states and others we love, thousands of K-12 teachers are making more money by taking classes from the radical left “Department of Education.” I'm getting paid. These universities teach us how terrible our civilization is and how evil capitalism is. State schools in each of these states have departments that unanimously support radical identity politics and communicate those views to students with taxpayer dollars. That is not academic freedom. It's about funding the enemy.
For more FOX News opinions, click here
This ideological virus will not go away just because we win at the ballot box. Even if we continue to fund extremists, the virus will simply hide, incubate, and spread anew in the future. Instead of Woke-U degrees, why not defund radicals and introduce merit-based testing for teacher promotions?
By tying community college funding to students' career success (such as average salary years later), we encourage what works and reward great schools, while defunding the Alliance of Woke Fools. What if? Why not clean up all institutions with state funds?
Braving identity politics and other neo-Marxist claptrap traps is a win-win issue for voters. Even in my home state of California, Democratic voters between the ages of 60 and 40 overwhelmingly support race neutrality and common sense when given the opportunity to weigh in on specific issues such as affirmative action.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Red state legislators and governors: The voters are on our side. The law and the courts are on our side. The Administrators associated with the Awakened Organization want you to be gentle, but your duty to our civilization demands.
Results-based accountability leads to a prosperous, high-growth future. Identity politics is the path to a dystopian, zero-sum world of discontent. The only question that remains is whether the leaders got the memo and who has the brains and courage to act.