By Aleksandra Gadzala Tirziu
Vice President Kamala Harris’s routine use of the phrase “what can be, unburdened by what has been” has long been a quiet source of irritation — not for its ambiguity, but for its clear yet overlooked alignment with established leftist ideology.
The Democrats’ embrace of a woke political agenda, which was on display at their Democratic National Convention, further embodies this vision of “what can be” and raises concerns about America’s security and global standing.
French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau once described the shift from a state of nature to society as one from “what is not to what is.” For Rousseau, “what is” was a realm of immorality and inequality, unlike the utopian state of nature, which he considered man’s true condition. The aim, then, was to reclaim what was “not.” Such notions of quashing social norms to attain a utopian ideal also appear in queer theory and Maoism.
“To see what can be, unburdened by what has been,” wrote Cuban-American theorist Jose Esteban Munoz on the prospect of a future queer existence.
“Destroy the old, establish the new” was Mao Zedong’s mandate for a new socialist society.
It is no accident that Harris’s rhetoric draws from such ideological currents, and her use of the phrase deserves more scrutiny than it has received, especially because she and her running mate’s, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), agenda reflects the very ideas such schools of thought promote.
In nearly four years as vice president, a position the legacy media seems to have forgotten she continues to hold, the Biden-Harris administration has pursued a diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda seemingly intent on refashioning both society and state. The Defense Department, for example, last year directed $86.5 million in taxpayer money toward programs focused on critical race theory, “white supremacy,” and gender.
At a time when the axis of communist China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea threatened the free world, those funds would have been better spent on bolstering America’s defense readiness.
The Department of Homeland Security, which is tasked with securing our borders, the very borders that have seen nearly 10 million illegal migrant encounters since 2021, has also put DEI at the head of its 2024-2028 Information Technology Strategic Plan.
Artificial intelligence, which could boost threat detection and infrastructure security, is a secondary concern.
Meanwhile, funding at NASA has become contingent on duly crafted diversity statements and inclusion plans. Given its role in underpinning critical military and communication systems, space is key to our national security. Yet China has been making gains, with its on-orbit assets surging 500% since 2015.
Beijing has also placed more than 200 satellites into orbit each year, most of which are equipped with sensing technology to monitor the United States and its allies’ forces. Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris space strategy monitors pronouns.
But it is not just the fact that federal agencies are being directed to prioritize DEI in their operations. Other strategic problems, including those of national security and foreign policy, are also being reframed through this lens.
For instance, nuclear disarmament, which is already an inherently problematic concept, is now being deliberated through the framework of “queering nuclear weapons.” Sneha Nair, special assistant to the National Nuclear Security Administration, said, “Queer theory informs the struggle for nuclear justice.”
Her views resonate with those of Munoz and the utopian ideals of revised, fluid societal structures that are central to queer theory.
The Biden-Harris administration’s push for such woke policies is too pervasive to be coincidental. These are deliberate efforts, seemingly intended to dismantle the pillars of our security: A robust, modern military, credible deterrence, secure borders, and social fabric.
In Minnesota, Walz has followed suit. Last April, for instance, he enacted H.F. 146, which is a law permitting minors to undergo gender transition surgery without parental consent.
In this context, his history of interactions with, and praise for, the Chinese Communist Party raises additional concerns about the possible direction of an eventual Harris-Walz administration and the measures it might take to achieve its aims, both at home and overseas.
DEI policies are already woven into the Department of State’s country strategies and international aid programs, which are usually under the guise of democracy promotion and human rights. The unintended fallout of such measures often has been to alienate our allies and nudge them toward our adversaries.
Should Harris and Walz succeed in November, there is little reason to believe this pattern would change. Indeed, their DEI agenda is not fit for the current geopolitics. It is not fit for a strong and secure America.
There is no need to “see what can be,” such as they envision. It is “what has been” that ought to be restored.
Aleksandra Gadzala Tirziu (@awgadzala) is the founder of the geopolitical risk firm Magpie Advisory, a visiting fellow at Independent Women’s Forum, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, and a contributing editor with the New York Sun.
