Equal Opportunity or Outcome?

Equality is an ingrained term in our Republic.   It’s a cornerstone of our beliefs as a nation.  But what does it really mean?  Is it changing, and what does that mean for us?

Here is the first official reference to equality for our Republic…

…we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

Sounds pretty simple, right?  Well, not exactly anymore, but first, here’s some more on the concept of equality…

There are at least two consequences of this proposition. The first is that all human beings are endowed with the right to enjoy equal legal rights, legal opportunity and legal protection. The second consequence of the rule of legal equality is that it neither mandates nor permits the civil government to ensure equal social position, economic well-being or political power. The Declaration’s recognition that “all men are created equal” does not mean that the civil government must treat each person the same on the basis of what they do or on the basis of their conduct. Social and economic achievement is a function of behavior or conduct. It is a function of individual labor and enterprise. Political power is a function of political involvement and knowledge of the political system. As long as the law guarantees the right of an individual to participate on an equal basis with other individuals in achieving the desired social position, economic condition or political strength, then differences in outcome or result do not contravene the rule of legal equality.

Well friends, this is the traditional, and, dare I say, the current Conservative definition of equality.  Equality means that we all start at the same point.  It states that we are inherently equal before the law, and that government must protect that right.  Many Conservative would add that government should certainly not interfere with or impede an individual’s choice in pursuing his or her goals and ambitions.  Essentially, the government is supposed to get out of the way, and allow individuals to pursue their own interests, provided that those pursuits do not interfere with the rights of others. It is the equality of opportunity, not of result.  It is then up to us; our choices, talents, and persistence that create our outcomes.   Simply put, as Benjamin Franklin suggested…

“The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Equality is an individual concept, in that it applies to each and every individual-all 300,000,000 of us.  That is an important differentiation, and it will be come clear a bit later.

Additionally, the concept of equality under the law has utility, which adds to the cohesion and peace of the people.  Here is an excellent illustration of that idea.

There are two distinct reasons why all men should receive equal treatment under the law. One was already mentioned when we analyzed the objections to involuntary servitude. In order for human labor to realize its highest attainable productivity, the worker must be free, because only the free worker, enjoying in the form of wages the fruits of his own industry, will exert himself to the full. The second consideration in favor of the equality of all men under the law is the maintenance of social peace. It has already been pointed out that every disturbance of the peaceful development of the division of labor must be avoided. But it is well-nigh impossible to preserve lasting peace in a society in which the rights and duties of the respective classes are different. Whoever denies rights to a part of the population must always be prepared for a united attack by the disenfranchised on the privileged. Class privileges must disappear so that the conflict over them may cease. (Emphasis is mine)

There is also another factor to consider.  “All men are created equal,” implies that we have a creator.  It then also stands that this point pre-dates government.  For, if there is a God that created us, his equal creation of us came before human government, and it therefore built in to humanity.  This means that human government must respect that creation, and to ignore it means to disregard the very nature of humanity. Unfortunately, most forms of human government have done a poor job of this.  Even our own system has had it’s failings, some of them glaring, but I believe that this nation was among the first to actually leave a system in place to assure equality.  First, with the Declaration of Independence, and then with the Constitution, our system attempts to ensure this equality, as well as the other inalienable rights we are guaranteed.

In assuring equal opportunity, our system puts in place the possibility for people to move, with work and persistence, into higher classes.  People do still rise from humble beginnings to become very successful.  That happens because our concept of equal opportunity allows others, if they choose and are successful, to overcome their origins and move upward.

This system is uneven, because we, as individuals, are uneven.  We each have different talents and aptitudes, and each person makes decisions as to how they will use what they have.  Some highly talented and intelligent people make terrible choices and end up in poverty.  Some people make the best of what they have and are incredibly successful.  Many will see this as naive optimism, however, we have had waves of immigrants that escaped tenements and have children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren that are among our elites.  We still have thousands of people entering this country-some illegally, all in a search for opportunity.   If it were not possible to advance oneself, people would be leaving, not coming.  In the end, if the government stays out of our way, we are able to succeed, if we choose well.  Life isn’t fair, but government can guarantee that it does not contribute to the unfairness.

Sadly, that idea is being systematically dismantled.

Unfortunately, the left has a very different idea of equality.  While the tradition of our government guarantees equality under the law, the left proposes equality of outcome, which has tremendous implications for all of us.  This concept of equality expresses itself in many ways; however, it can be described in the term “Social Justice.”  To define this, here is the introduction from Wikipedia

Social justice is both a philosophical debate and an important issue in politics, religion and civil society. Most individuals wish to live in a just society, but different political ideologies have different conceptions of what a ‘just society’ actually is. The term “social justice” is often employed by the political left to describe a society with a greater degree of economic egalitarianism, which may be achieved through progressive taxation, income redistribution, or even property redistribution, policies aimed toward achieving that which developmental economists refer to as equality of opportunity and equality of outcome.

Notice the differences between the tradition concept of equality and the thinly veiled Marxism of Social Justice?

In proposing equality of outcome, the government must shed its role in protecting rights and equality to become the “great equalizer.”  After all, if government is to take from one, by force of law, and hand the results of one’s labor to another, is that equal opportunity?  Or, is it equal opportunity to steal from another?  Frankly, legislating theft does not diminish the fact that it is still theft-the legislation just justifies said theft with sympathetic sounding rhetoric!

To set up such legislated theft, the left must first create an environment conducive to condoning it.  Class envies are ignited, or fanned, and resentments created or expanded.  The ability of individuals to grow and gain their own power and influence are minimized, or even denied.  Those that do succeed are castigated and are accused of “selling out.”  Coalitions are built, communities organized, propaganda and defeatism are sold, all culminating in a created “demand” for justice.  Of course, the only way for this “justice” to be delivered is by government fiat.

In this process, the individual is absorbed into the victim group.  They start as autonomous individuals with free choice and equality under the law.  They are then transformed to a powerless victim class, with no power or equality.  While this is simply a change in cognition and perception, it becomes all too real and true to the people trapped in its grasp.  The groups demanding justice, whether they are based on race, lifestyle choice, or any other artificial criteria, are separated by leftist propaganda, into giving up their autonomy, ability, personal talents and abilities to impact change, and power.  This is replaced by victim-hood and stagnation.  They give up their equal status as Americans for being hyphenated Americans, separating themselves from the traditions of our state, as well as the idea of equality under the law.  Ambition is replaced by helplessness, responsibility by despair.  People stop pursuing their self-interests (at least legally) as they are taught that they are victims and success is not possible…without help from the left.

And there is the benefit for the left.  They create disempowered classes.  These are groups that have given up their personal power to belong to an aggrieved group.  Then, when the “solutions” proposed by the left only create more of the same problems that they used as a justification for their plans, the groups remain as a “permanent” clients of the left. They are used as rent-a-mob, and relied upon as a voting bloc, but their overall condition does not improve.   The fact that the solutions have failed-well, that’s the right’s fault.  After all, they haven’t had the chance to do “enough” of it yet!  Another benefit for the left is that they gain power by being able to extract wealth, regulate behavior (even speech), take over institutions, expand government, and make more and more of the population dependent on them.

Where does that leave us?  We are left in a difficult situation, to be sure.  How many people will continue to work hard when government just takes more of what they earn?  Why expand, grow, and innovate when the reward is scorn and confiscation?  What will ambitious young people learn by seeing others punished for success?  There is an old saying from the Soviet Union, “We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us.”  We won’t get to that sad state anytime soon, but we will, unless the left is stopped, and the victim classes are liberated from liberalism.

If we are not vigilant, and guard our liberties carefully, we will see Franklin’s idea change…

“The Constitution not only gives people the right to pursue happiness…but the government will steal someone else’s and give it to you…in exchange for your freedom…”