H.L. Mencken famously said that “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” The Biden-era version of this statement is that “Wokeness is the theory that the self-styled elite know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” Joe Biden is mostly hurting ordinary Americans by destroying jobs and increasing race hatred. But he’s managed to sign one executive order that will ruin life for many of his supporters, and that’s the one about so-called “transgender” athletes. This one’s going to ream the middle- and upper-middle classes who voted for him.

One of the very first executive orders Biden signed is one on “preventing and combating discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.” As I discuss this, keep in mind that the so-called “transgender” crowd – that is, people with severe body dysmorphia who think their actual sex is the opposite of their biological sex – are an infinitely small percentage of the total American population, despite their preeminence on the Democrat side of politics. As written, the order mandates that mentally ill boys and men who think they’re women must be allowed onto girls and women’s sports teams – as well as getting into their locker rooms.

Let me immediately acknowledge that this is going to be hard on athletic girls and women who are conservatives. I am deeply sorry for them.

But think about this: American colleges and universities are a Democrat rite of passage. While normal people are learning to cringe when looking at these leftist nursery schools and loony bins for adults, in Democrat houses, academia is the holy grail.

Starting when they’re two, these kids are groomed for college. That’s what their entire childhood is about. And for many of these Democrat families, college is not affordable. Poorer kids get scholarships, grants, and discounts; richer kids have the wherewithal to pay for it. But for the leftist middle class, the alternatives to draining the family bank account are burdensome loans or . . . athletic scholarships.

I know a lot of talented young female athletes who got into college on these athletic scholarships, only one of whom came from a conservative family. The rest are leftists whose daughters play sports and get liberal arts, or climate studies, social justice degrees. These young women are going to find that they’re getting edged out of athletic scholarships in favor of young men who run and swim faster, jump higher, and kick further than the girls do. Even lousy boys beat good women at sports. Bye-bye, scholarships.

And given the competition for places in college and the expense, I’m willing to bet that enterprising young men and their families might discover the virtues of gender fluidity when it comes to scholarships. The great thing about modern gender fluidity is that you don’t need to have surgery and you don’t even need to give up women. You can just claim to be a lesbian.

And in that regard, I will tell you a true story. A woman I know met up with her father after her mother died. To her surprise, her father was kitted out in women’s clothes. He announced that he was transgender and would soon be having the surgery. She saw her father a year later and was surprised to see that he was back in men’s clothes and clearly hadn’t been sliced, diced, and doused with hormones. He explained that he had realized that he wasn’t just a woman in a man’s body. He was a lesbian in a man’s body – and had better success with women when he looked like a man.

He is not unique. It’s not uncommon for people to announce that they are transgender while continuing with the opposite sex partners they had before their gender epiphanies.

I’ll say what I always say on this subject. I’m deeply sorry for people suffering from body dysmorphia and will always treat them with respect (provided that they return the respect). However, a society that buys into people’s delusions is a society in trouble. In this case, that trouble will strongly affect the very same political classes who support this retreat from reality. In other words, leftists are about to see their daughters and their bank accounts get hit good and hard by their wokeness.

IMAGE: Hannah Mouncey. YouTube screengrab, with added caption.