Democrats and liberal commentators in the past decade or two are likely to sound like fifth-grade teachers:
“Let’s make sure everyone’s voice is heard and that we are inclusive and sensitive to diverse viewpoints and perspectives.”
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This sort of diversity, equity, and inclusion process talk sounds nice. If you are naive and don’t think about what it means in practice, you might think this is all about making sure the quiet child, or the powerless group, gets a say.
In real life, it’s a formula for gridlock and an assurance that the powerful get a veto on any proposed reform.
Lefty journalist Ryan Grim wrote a great piece a few years ago about the dysfunction of left-wing groups on abortion, climate, gender, economics, et cetera. A quiet thread running through the piece was how “making sure everyone’s voice is heard” and “having a community process” meant nothing got done.
This summer, we got a different form of this phenomenon, whereby fifth-grade-teacher-talk is used to prevent anything from happening. In this case, the talk of “everyone’s voice” and “community process” is used specifically to make sure the politically connected get their say over other people’s business.
The Boston City Council had a hearing on whether to allow self-driving cars. City Councilmen turned into fifth-grade teachers, and tech policy analyst Tim Lee noted the rhetoric:
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To be very clear, the Teamsters union, one of the most prolific political funders in Massachusetts, doesn’t want self-driving cars in Boston, and Boston Democrats think the Teamsters should get a veto.
So next time you hear “Let’s make sure everyone’s voice is heard,” from a Democratic politician, they really might be saying, “We are not allowed to do anything that would upset my donors.”