But then along came the endless “diversity” push and DEI, and I would argue that such concepts have led us to be further apart than ever before. It’s now routine at high schools and universities around the country to have bloated DEI departments with executives making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, paid to divide us. 

I’ve seen schools where there are separate graduation ceremonies for people of color, LatinX groups that splinter off and go their own separate way, and LGBTQ affinity groups that pull away from the institutions as a whole and create their own separate universe. A young person I know, who is white, was best friends in primary school with a black classmate, but then their friendship deteriorated in middle school when the kid was pulled into an affinity group and suddenly started eyeing his old pal with a suspicious eye. 

How is this helping, exactly?

Here’s some overly wordy academic’s view of what the melting pot signifies:

A melting pot is a monocultural metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" with a common culture; an alternative being a homogeneous society becoming more heterogeneous through the influx of foreign elements with different cultural backgrounds, possessing the potential to create disharmony within the previous culture. It can also create a harmonious hybridized society known as cultural amalgamation. Historically, it is often used to describe the cultural integration of immigrants to the United States.^[1] A related concept has been defined as "cultural additivity.”

Blah blah blah. This is why so many are questioning higher education right now; this analyst can’t even describe the concept in relatable terms. Quite simply, the melting pot concept means that we should meld together as a people, a society, and that we should be united in supporting the greatest governmental system ever known to man – regardless of our myriad backgrounds.

While former President Barack Obama was supposed to bring a post-racial world, in reality, he delivered the exact opposite. Now, we live in a society where Democrats and the media are obsessed with race, gender identity, ethnicity, socio-economic background – anything that divides us. No longer do those interest groups focus on what brings us together -- our commonalities, our good fortune to live in such an incredible place and time, our commitment to liberty. Instead, they focus on identity politics and our differences, only pushing for more division rather than unity.

I thought entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, even though he had to bow out of the GOP presidential nomination process due to lack of support, said it succinctly during his endorsement speech for former President Donald Trump Tuesday evening. Although he didn’t use the term “melting pot,” he drove home the point:

We've been celebrating our diversity and our differences for so long that we forgot all of the ways that we are the same as Americans, bound by that common set of ideals that set this country into motion. 

We believe those ideals still exist. 

E pluribus Unum. From many one, and you know how we're doing it. We're doing it by speaking the truth at every step of the way.

Those comments appear at the 6:07 mark of this clip:

WATCH: Vivek Goes On SCORCHED-EARTH RAMPAGE on-stage with Trump in absolute barnburner endorsement speech in New Hampshire🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/xCqBWCX8fT

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 17, 2024

See: WATCH: Vivek Lights It Up With Trump in New Hampshire

The Melting Pot was a magnificent concept that helped us become the dominant power in the world and survive WWI, WWII, Vietnam, the Civil Rights movement, and so many other difficult periods in history. By tossing it aside and focusing on our differences, we’re risking the very things that separated America from the rest of the planet – unity and liberty.

It’s time to bring back the melting pot as our shared vision – not DEI and identity politics.