The Cato Institute hosted a policy forum on diversity, equity and inclusion on Wednesday during which Republican U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri and Erec Smith, a professor of rhetoric at York College of Pennsylvania, laid out the case against DEI and how to fix it.
Schmitt argued DEI is pure cultural Marxism, an ideology planted by the hard left in universities and K-12 schools, but also in corporations and the military, to deconstruct all of the parts of American culture that bring us together.
In particular, he was clear that understanding what the Constitution offers, and believing in the God-granted rights specified in the Declaration of Independence, bring us together as Americans. Reducing us to our racial characteristics – blackness or whiteness – undermines that.
“We believe in an idea, if you accept that you’re an American,” Schmitt said. “If they undermine that they will create unrest and instability and remake it in this Marxist image.”