This is the first of what will be a series of columns on the subject of equality. I’ll begin by stating the obvious: that the concept of equality is extremely popular. Take an informal poll – call a dozen random names from the phone book, or stop a dozen folks on the street, and ask them whether equality is a good thing – and the odds are good that all of them will answer in the affirmative. Some will even question your sanity for having raised the question in the first place.
Equality is so universally popular that saying unkind things about it is tantamount to heresy. But I’ll be committing many acts of heresy in this series, because the truth is that I consider equality to be overrated. There are many reasons, some of which will be the topics of future installments, but chief among them is the fact that I love liberty. And in general, the more liberty there is, the less equality there will be. You can have one or the other, but not both.
Since I will be saying so many unflattering and occasionally downright insulting things about equality in future columns, I’m going to devote this one to the only kind of equality that I consider worth having: equality under the law.
Unlike other types of equality, equality under the law (“equal protection of the laws,” as our Constitution puts it) is not just desirable, it is one of our greatest blessings as Americans. A just, peaceful, prosperous society cannot exist without it. Anyone who has even a nodding acquaintance with world history knows that societies where everyone enjoys equality under the law are very much the exception and not the rule. Those of us fortunate enough to have been born in the United States have a tendency to take the guarantee of equal protection for granted, even to assume that it is the natural order of things. It takes the study of history, along with an awareness of how people live in other parts of the world, to make us appreciate just how blessed we are, and how exceptional the United States of America is.
Of course it’s one thing to assert a right to equality under the law and another to make it a reality, and in practice we often fall short of the ideal. We’ll discuss this further in future installments; for now, I will say only that the ideal remains, and that we as citizens and voters still have the ability to correct those areas where our society falls short of it.
That pretty much sums up what I have to say in equality’s favor. In my next column, I’ll discuss why the pursuit of equality is antithetical to the preservation of liberty.
polination.blog 
I had the enormous good fortune to travel behind the Iron Curtain twice, once when I was 11 (Hungary) and again when I was 17 (USSR). The deprivation and paranoia were palpable and we just about kissed the pavement when we got back home.
After the Hungary visit, my mom designated the Fourth of July as her own personal Holy Day of Obligation (days besides Sundays when Catholics are obliged to attend mass). She went every year in thanksgiving for our freedoms and for her four grandparents’ decisions to leave everything and sail here to a new life.
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Can’t wait for your future installments!
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Equality does not mean Life is fair. Life is NOT Fair. Fair does not equal Equality. Simple, huh? (I look forward to your instalments on this topic, Bob. (By the way, did you go by another name that I might recognise?)
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Hoot, in my previous life my gravatar was a grouchy little bird (not Bob, but perhaps a third cousin twice removed) and my screen name was a flower that blooms in the spring. Given the garden theme of PoliNation, my old name would probably be more fitting here, but when I started bluebird of bitterness I changed my screen ID across the board so as to minimize the number of identities and personalities I had to juggle.
I’ll be addressing the “fairness” canard in some of my future columns, you can count on it. 🙂
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This was good – I had not really thought about equality in terms of equal protection under the law in a long, long time. By now, it is just a part of my psyche – something that you know and believe and completely take for granted. I have always thought of equality in terms of opportunity – that we all are born with an equal chance at success. But that isn’t really true – I know in my heart that my children were born with many advantages that other babies born on the same day in the same hospital simply did not and would not have. I guess that is just another way of saying what “What a Hoot” said much more eloquently.
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Well done Bob, and all you girls’ comments. Equal Protection Under the Law is a hot button issue for me that I argue everyday I do not have. By the by, was meeting with Chm of board, town counsel, and chief on this very issue so I could show how I was not afforded it, and guess who did not show up when we scheduled it per their availability. Yep, the Chief. Aaarrrggghhhhh, I even hired a stenographer. I hope it’s the nail in the coffin, but likely not, since no one holds anyone accountable anymore. Later.
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