The Pursuit of Equality

The founder’s declaration of all men being created equal, while recognized at the time, was not achieved at the establishment of the constitution.  Even their vision had limitations on it as absolute equality in every phase of existence would be an impossible accomplishment without an extreme amount of force on a population.  

Equality in liberty however was a primary objective and largely achieved with some limitations. It would be illusionary to think that a perfectly equitable system would be set up in the first government experiment of its kind by human beings.  Through the methods and freedom they established however, continuous progress has been made. 

Through the freedom of speech and assembly, and unfortunately a civil war, slavery was abolished, and women’s rights have overcome much of the suppression put in place by the culture of misguided monarchs through the ages.

In our society today the pursuit of equality revolves around various philosophies of redistributing wealth.  It involves force by the removing through taxation the accumulated property and possessions of financially successful people and giving it to those that have not achieved the same results through their life’s choices.   If equality involves the idea that you can eliminate poverty then liberty and freedom are the better way to achieve it.   

America is far and away the richest nation on the earth.  Most other nations have reached economic prosperity as well by doing business with Americans.  More poverty has been eliminated in the world through freedom and industry than ever was achieved by confiscating wealth and redistributing it.  Look at North and South Korea and East and West Germany.  The living conditions were and are vastly different.  

The country of liberty is the USA and the countries where economic equality is the stated goal are inevitably third world countries.  Even the few socialistic democracies that have achieved a level of prosperity still depend on the United States to buy their goods.

Today in America we find the economy weaker and poverty increasing, not because liberty is increasing but because it is decreasing as the government continues to pursue greater policies of economic redistribution.  

A large and cumbersome government increases the drag on a free economy as it reduces the opportunities for its citizens to pursue their own ambitions to keep and share their property through productive and efficient efforts they control. The proof is in the current condition of our country and the amount of people receiving government assistance, government jobs and the lack of jobs in the free market.  

If equality were indeed the objective of today’s politicians then liberty, not redistribution would be the method of choice for achieving it.