It’s hard to believe, but it’s been nearly two decades since our irredeemably racist nation elected a half-black man, Barack Obama, to the presidency. In a landslide. Over a white guy. And then reelected him four years later. In another landslide. Over another white guy.

So it seems, at least to me, that we’ve long since realized Martin Luther King’s dream of an America that judges folks not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

This leads me to ask: Why is our federal government still flipping the bird toward our Constitution by racially discriminating in its contracting and procurement practices?

Thankfully, President Donald Trump, earlier this year, signed an executive order eliminating so-called Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion by federal contractors and their subcontractors. In doing so, he ensured that merit and efficiency would carry the day in federal contracting and employment decisions.

But let’s face it: Executive orders have a limited life expectancy — equal to that of the term in office of the presidents who sign them. Thus, the next time the political pendulum swings left, you can be sure that those discriminatory federal government DEI policies will be dusted off and reinstituted. Which is why a bill recently proposed by Wisconsin Republican Congressman Glenn Grothman is so important. Bills, when passed, have the permanent force of law.

Grothman’s bill, the Ending Discrimination in Government Contracting Act, is meant “to stop federal agencies from violating the Constitution by awarding contracts based on recipients’ race or sex.” Utah’s Mike Lee has introduced the companion bill in the Senate.

“Contracts,” says Grothman, “should be awarded based on merit, not race or gender, as the Constitution guarantees equal protection for all. For too long, federal contracting has relied on race- and sex-based mandates that drive up costs and undermine confidence in the system. Our bill restores accountability, reduces waste, and ensures contracts are awarded based on merit.”

If the Supreme Court ruled last week that racially drawn congressional districts are unconstitutional, and if in 2023 it ruled that race-based college admissions policies are unconstitutional, then what’s the rationale for allowing race-based government procurement policies to remain in place?

Put another way: If the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, why is the federal government still allowed to discriminate based on race and sex? We either have a Civil Rights Act of 1964, or we don’t.

As Senator Lee puts it, “Unconstitutional discrimination disguised as ‘DEI’ has infected our federal government. Awarding government contracts based on race and sex is, simply put, racist and sexist. These policies defy our founding values and waste taxpayer dollars on subpar projects.” Lee adds that his bill will “restore merit-based partnerships, ensuring contractors, businesses, and workers are evaluated not by the color of their skin or gender, but their ability to serve the American people.”

Folks, America is still a racist and sexist country. Just not in the way you’ve been told it is.

How pervasive is the discriminatory agenda in federal contracting? The Minority Business Development Agency doesn’t even try to hide the injustice. Instead, the agency shouts it from the rooftop of its federal government website, bragging that in fiscal year 2023 it helped steer $1.5 billion in capital and $3.8 billion in contracts to minority-owned businesses in its “commitment to fostering growth for America’s minority business enterprises, fueled by our mission to create an economy of equal opportunity.”

Notice the lie there at the end. This isn’t an effort to foster “equal opportunity.” This is the Left’s so-called Equity Agenda. This is an effort to force equal outcomes, as opposed to merely guaranteeing equal opportunity for all. This is the equivalent of saying, All men and women are created equal, but whites generally and white men in particular are just a bit less equal than the others.

A few years back, I wrote a piece about the pernicious nature of the word “equity,” especially as it bears such a strong resemblance to “equality.” I mean, everyone’s for equality and equal opportunity, right?

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon goes further: “You know hiring cannot be done on the basis of race in our country. And so again, what the president has done is really extraordinary. He’s given us a mandate to wipe out DEI and that includes racist affirmative action programs throughout the country, wherever the federal government touches them. And that includes just about everybody, because just about everybody gets federal funding.”

Hear, hear.

When you wake up in the morning, you might thank God Almighty that Donald Trump is president. Because if Kamala Harris had been elected, Joe Biden’s racist Equity Agenda, among many other awful things, would be in full swing now.