DEI Policies and Sewage Spills Have More in Common Than You Think

## When Third World Problems Come Home

Remember when comparing America to other countries was actually a thing we did? Not the shallow “healthcare in Sweden” takes your college roommate wouldn’t shut up about, but real comparisons. The kind where you’d look at Soviet breadlines versus American supermarkets and think, yeah, we’re doing something right here.

Those days are gone. Now our media would rather spend three weeks dissecting whatever celebrity got arrested than show you what’s happening in places like South Africa. And that’s convenient for them, because if Americans actually looked at those comparisons today, they’d start asking uncomfortable questions.

Here’s what’s happening in South Africa right now. Their water systems are collapsing. Sewage is flooding into rivers and streams. You can’t fish safely. You can’t swim. In some areas, you definitely can’t drink the water without boiling it first. They’ve got cholera outbreaks and E.coli problems that would’ve been unthinkable thirty years ago.

South Africa wasn’t always like this. Before they prioritized racial equity over competence, before they seized farmland and purged experienced workers from infrastructure jobs, things actually functioned. The electric grid worked. Buildings didn’t collapse. Water was clean.

But equity was more important than electricity, apparently.

## The Part Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud

So here’s the question that’ll get you labeled every name in the book: Could there possibly be a connection between prioritizing demographic quotas over actual expertise and the total collapse of basic services?

You’re not supposed to ask that. You’re supposed to pretend that merit and results have nothing to do with who’s running things.

Well, let me help you answer it. Turn your attention to Washington DC.

More than 240 million gallons of raw sewage just spilled into the Potomac River. Let that number sink in for a second. The Deepwater Horizon disaster, the one that had congressional hearings and Hollywood movies, released about 140 million gallons of oil. This sewage spill is nearly twice that size, and you probably didn’t even hear about it.

The pipe that burst belongs to DC Water. They’re responsible for fixing it. They’re responsible for the disaster. And honestly, the speed of their response tells you everything you need to know about how our major cities are being run right now.

## From Superpower to Sewage

This isn’t just about one broken pipe. It’s about what happens when you prioritize everything except competence. When you hire based on checkboxes instead of capability. When you’re more concerned about diversity metrics than whether the water treatment system actually works.

DC Water has been focused on all sorts of initiatives lately. Equity programs. Inclusion training. Social justice commitments. You know what they apparently haven’t been focused on? Making sure 240 million gallons of human waste doesn’t pour into the river.

The parallels to South Africa aren’t coincidental. They’re instructive. When you decide that the demographic composition of your workforce matters more than whether that workforce can actually do the job, infrastructure fails. It’s not complicated. A water treatment plant doesn’t care about your diversity statement. It cares about engineers who know what they’re doing.

## The Silence Is Deafening

Here’s what really gets me. Where are the environmental activists? The ones who chain themselves to trees and throw soup on paintings? Where’s the 24/7 cable news coverage? Where are the congressional investigations?

They’re silent. Because this disaster happened on a Democrat’s watch, in a Democrat city, under policies Democrats champion. So instead of wall-to-wall coverage, you get a brief mention and then back to whatever manufactured controversy keeps you distracted.

Meanwhile, the capital of the United States of America is literally swimming in sewage. The same problems plaguing third-world countries are now our problems. And we’re supposed to pretend it’s just bad luck. Just an unfortunate accident. Nothing to see here.

But it’s not bad luck. It’s the predictable result of abandoning merit for ideology. Of caring more about optics than outcomes. Of building systems designed to check boxes instead of work.

You want to know why we don’t compare ourselves to other countries anymore? Because those comparisons don’t flatter us like they used to. Because our leaders know that if you actually looked at the trajectory, you’d see we’re heading in the wrong direction fast.

The Soviets had commissars controlling thermostats. We’ve got diversity officers while sewage floods our rivers. Different era, same stupid priorities.

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