Have you ever BEEN on a bridge before?

Have you ever BEEN on a bridge before?

Let’s wade into this minefield, shall we?  Of course I am referencing the collapsed bridge in Florida.  A good deal has been made of the fact that the company that built the bridge was a majority female company (though its’ owners were male).

https://squawker.org/culture-wars/a-female-led-construction-company-built-the-florida-bridge-that-collapsed/

Now, do I believe that this company is on the hook because it is comprised of so many incompetent females?  No, I do not BELIEVE that is the reason.  I BELIEVE that it is made up of so many incompetent females because of the government.

Here is how it works, and this is only anecdotal because you don’t actually know me (and if you do, don’t admit it for your own sake).  The government is married to the horrific social engineering tool of diversity.  There will be more of my opinion on this when I write the book that makes me a millionaire, but for now, take this to the bank; there is NO, not one, scintilla of evidence that “diversity” benefits any productivity or quality whatsoever….and for those of you that just wet your pants at that comment, I would merely ask you to prove it, not to your liking, but to PROVE it.  It sounds nice; I am better and my environment is better for being with people of other races that bring different perspectives on life and issues and blah, blah, blah.  That is crap and you know it.  I am BETTER and my environment is BETTER is someone of ANY race brings smarter, better ideas and better experiences to the situation than my own.  Sex, race, I do not care….those are, or should NEVER be a qualification for a job.

That aside, here is how it works.  The government is married to diversity in the name of political correctness.  This requires “set asides” in contracting.  In theory contractors provide the government with services that the government cannot provide itself because it hamstrings itself through politically correct, diversity laws.  So the government contracts for services it has regulated itself out of providing.  I know that would never be the STATED position, but practice shows that it is.  But the disease has broken out of the laboratory and the same rules that apply to government employees now apply to contractors.  So, it is not enough that a major aerospace engineer company comes to the government complete with people, experience and knowledge to meet a contract requirement; that company must “partner” with a “small, minority or women owned” business.  If the company partners with a veterans company, the company is more likely than not required to be owned by a disabled vet (and disabled encompasses a number of disabilities that just come with age).  My company partners with a veterans owned company that actually does some very good work and provides some very good, very qualified people with a wide range of professional experiences.  Another company has chosen to partner with a native American owned company that is also a family owned company with no experience in the field, but by diversity rules alone, meets the requirements.  THAT company will do EXACTLY what a native American owned company here in town did with their company; the company was owned by a native American tribe in the local area, whose claim to fame was a kick-ass casino not far from here.  And not a single member of management was native American, nor were any of the people working the contract jobs.  They were, with few exceptions, white males because, with few exceptions it was white males that had the skill set for the job.

And that is how it works; it is a program that benefits nobody, least of all the tax payer, to pay homage to diversity, which has yet to proven to provide a benefit.

And that is where our bridge building company went awry.  Whether or not the male ownership and leadership actually BELIEVE they are doing a great service by hiring a huge female work force of bridge builders and designers, or not, I do not know.  Whether or not they feel forced to do that, or not, I do not know.  Or, and this would be a real tragedy; whether or not they hire so many female engineers because they are true believers that, in this world, we have an abundance of female bridge designers and engineers who are every bit as good as their male counterparts……well, I do not know that either.

But, what are the odds that, in our nation today, we have so many female bridge designers and builders that we would make an entire project their near exclusive domain, using a technology that is as agreed upon as global warming among “experts”?  How would it be conceivable that men would not dominate that field or AT LEAST not have parity?  I for one, am not buying it.

It is inevitable that such obvious favoritism would draw some negative comments and comparisons……just as inevitable that, in todays’ world (or in todays’ America) those cannot be discussed in public.  The fact that the bridge building technique has yet to be accepted as an industry standard and has some fairly significant shortcomings is almost an aside.  What I can say with complete confidence is that the bridge failure would be getting far more coverage (notice it was off of the news within a week, giving way to the far more important news coverage of the latest Trump shortcoming) had the bulk of the design / build team had been veteran men.

So, do I believe that the bridge collapsed because it was designed and built by women?  I don’t.  I come much closer to believing that it would not have collapsed if the prevailing, driving force in choosing the design / build team had been in selecting the best team.

Regardless of sex.