Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has blocked pay raises to University of Wisconsin employees until or unless the UW drops its $32 million program for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). This was after the Republicans had already cut the UW budget by $32 million.

The essential question is, why is Vos going against our nation's basic principles of democracy?

"We hold these truths that all men are created equal.." was written to include all humans according to some of Jefferson's other writings. Our Constitution never lived up to this promise so we fought a civil war in which 650,000 Americans died to include the formerly enslaved. The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution reinforced inclusion. Yes, Jim Crow fought a deadly fight against inclusion, but was largely overcome in the 20th century.

The 20th amendment gave women the vote and the Votings Rights Act, and Civil Rights Act of the 1960s grew our inclusion, diversity, and equity of democratic rights.

Speaker Vos and every American elected official should be actively supporting the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion of every American citizen in all public and political activities. The self-governing democracy we have developed over the centuries demands this.

Bill Dagnon,
Baraboo