Diversity has replaced quality as a primary consideration not just in politics but also in the culture
"California governor Gavin Newsom’s recent appointment of Laphonza Butler, a black lesbian, to the late Senator Dianne Feinstein’s seat generated headlines but it wasn’t a surprise. Newsom pledged to appoint a black woman if Senator Feinstein resigned more than two years ago. And so, he was all but required to eliminate roughly 97 percent of California’s population, which is just 6.5 percent black, from consideration straight off the bat. The appointment represents mainstream orthodoxy on the left here and in Europe, where diversity has replaced quality as a primary consideration not just in politics but also in the culture.
"Newsom’s press release about Butler’s appointment led with her intersectional qualifications, detailing how she’ll become “California’s first openly LGBTQ United States Senator and the first black lesbian to openly serve in Congress” before listing her actual qualifications gained during her career as a union leader, political operative and nonprofit executive. The governor didn’t choose any of the existing candidates, infuriating Representative Barbara Lee, an African-American congresswoman who is running for the seat. “The idea that a black woman should be appointed only as a caretaker to simply check a box is insulting to countless black women across this country who have carried the Democratic Party to victory election after election,” Lee said on X.
"Lee’s remarks could be interpreted as sour grapes, but the fact that even an African American in his own party is calling Mr. Newsom out for tokenism is striking. " . . .
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