The central problem with the Biden administration is that people are being selected for top jobs based not on merit, but on sex and race preferences.

This will rapidly lead to gross, even dangerous, ineffectiveness and abuse when linked primarily to advancing woke ideology rather than cost-benefit service for the American people.

We are seeing appointees pushing radical agendas in positions and ministries that should be disconnected to issues of race and gender.

Caricature by Donkey Hotey From flickr, Creative Commons license.

The latest in a long list of questionable appointees is the elevation of "Rachel" Levine to become the U.S. assistant health secretary.

Levine has a more lethal record than NYS governor Andrew Cuomo for the crime of forcibly inserting COVID-infected patients into elderly nursing homes, leading to the death of thousands.

Pennsylvania is the most populous state for COVID deaths in nursing homes.  At least 50% or more occurred in Levine's elderly facilities under Levine's direct orders.  These figures are considered under-recorded, and there are ongoing demands for more transparency by the state.

In Levine's case, he removed his own mother before admitting infected patients into his mother's Pennsylvania facility, a luxury he did not afford other concerned families.

Where Cuomo is, rightly, being investigated and, one hopes, punished for his crime, Levine is not only getting away scot free, but has been promoted as a top honcho in the nation's health elite.

Reading through Levine's C.V. it seems he was more involved with sex, race and transgender awareness in his state, yet failed with central issues such as the pandemic in which his state has an appalling record. 

The risk to the public of an assistant health secretary putting an obsessive trans agenda ahead of other vital needs has been overlooked in their rush to appoint the first "trans" official to be confirmed by the Senate. 

In an exchange with Senator Rand Paul in a Senate hearing, Levine refused to admit or deny that he favors indoctrinating children to reimagine themselves becoming a member of the other sex, or assisting them with medical and surgical "benefits" of a physical transition out of their natural sex and into an adopted gender.  Levine parried Paul's searching questions with non-answers.  As a result, the compliant media, instead of demanding answers to legitimate questions, turned on the senator, hurling insults at him for having the temerity of doing his congressional job of asking probing questions of a candidate for a leading national position. 

This brings me to my central point. 

The celebration of advancing people of differing race, culture, and sex should not be considered the prime qualification for any nationally responsible position.

It is merit based on actual accomplishments that must be the first qualification, not the second. 

Particularly in the service of a country, race, sex, and culture must always follow, not lead, the list of priorities required to be a leader.  Rachel Levine is a metaphor for an unhealthy government making radical changes that will disfigure America forever. 

Sensible stable balance is vitally important for the physical and psychological health of any country. 

The jury is still out on America, but the omens are not looking good.

Barry Shaw is at the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies.