What happens when the language of progress—“diversity,” “equity,” “inclusion”—becomes a mask for a new kind of orthodoxy? In the latest Dismantling DEI podcast, political scientist Wilfred Reilly joins the Goldwater Institute to expose how those words, once symbols of fairness, now conceal a rigid ideology that punishes merit and rewrites the very meaning of opportunity in American life.
Reilly, known for his data-driven critiques of left-wing orthodoxy, begins his conversation by pointing to DEI language itself. “Nobody opposes the words ‘diversity,’ ‘equity,’ and ‘inclusion,’ themselves,” he says. “But what’s meant by those terms in context isn’t just we’re going to have a bunch of people of different ethnic backgrounds on staff or something like that.” What appears to be a pledge to fairness, he contends, conceals a rigid ideology he calls “critical social justice,” which treats every unequal outcome as proof of systemic oppression that demands proportional results at all costs.
The professor argues that the DEI worldview stands on three pillars: that society is inherently oppressive, that every performance gap can be traced to that oppression, and that only coerced equity—proportional representation regardless of merit—can correct it. “It’s all downstream from Marxism,” he says, contending that the old class struggle has simply been repackaged, with “bourgeoisie” and “proletariat” replaced by “white” and “nonwhite.”
To back his point, Reilly cites post-affirmative action data from MIT, where black enrollment dropped from 16% to 5% and Hispanic enrollment fell by a third after racial preferences were curtailed by the Supreme Court. Far from proving the necessity of DEI, he argues, the numbers expose how the system sets up its supposed beneficiaries for failure. He discusses the book Mismatch, which shows that students admitted to elite institutions with lower qualifications often struggle to keep up and are less likely to pass the bar or succeed post-graduation. “You’re taking the guy who should’ve gone to Central Michigan and sending him to Harvard,” he says.
The consequences, Reilly argues, are not just academic but cultural. DEI, he says, sends the message that black students can’t succeed without special treatment, undermining their confidence and feeding public suspicion. Affirmative action “makes people think black businessmen are unqualified,” he says, citing a study where employers were equally likely to hire a black Yale graduate as a white applicant from Michigan. For him, the study reveals a cheapening on accomplishment across society not a change in racial attitudes or an uplift of those the DEI system claims to help.
Throughout the episode, Reilly draws a contrast between traditional moral systems—based on virtues like bravery, discipline, and self-reliance—and what he calls “prey morality,” a value system rooted entirely in empathy and victimhood. The result, he says, is a culture that rewards grievance and punishes achievement. “Virtue becomes having suffered more,” he says. “It’s not natural to humans, not to compete.”
Asked how to fight back, Reilly is blunt: “Speak the truth.” He likens DEI to the emperor’s new clothes—an obvious fiction that survives only because people are afraid to call it out. He also advocates legal action, urging white and Asian students to sue over racial discrimination, and calls for governors and university boards to defund DEI bureaucracies altogether. “Most colleges now have a diversity office,” he notes. “Michigan has 106 people in theirs.” That’s not going away on its own.
DEI, Reilly contends, isn’t just bad policy. It’s a philosophical inversion of what made America worth defending in the first place. And dismantling it starts with refusing to pretend it’s something noble when it’s anything but.
Watch the episode on YouTube and listen on Spotify or Apple podcasts.
🎙️ Dismantling DEI is a podcast produced by the Goldwater Institute’s Van Sittert Center for Constitutional Advocacy. Hosted by Kevin Jackson, the series reveals how DEI policies undermine American institutions.
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