"Inequality will exist as long as liberty exists," wrote Alexander Hamilton. "It unavoidably results from that very liberty itself."
For at least a half-century, conservative writers have pitted equality and liberty as incompatible social ideals, and come down on the side of liberty. Liberty is the ultimate prize ... if you're wealthy.
More below the fold....
"You're On Your Own" - Their Dream, Our Nightmare
The Alexander Hamilton quote above introduces a 1960 law review article titled Equality vs. Liberty: The Eternal Conflict. The author writes:
No one questions the right of all men to equal justice under law, but propagandists have carried the doctrine beyond equality of rights to equality of things, and men are heard to proclaim human equality who would revolt at the suggestion that all birds, all fish, all cattle, all dogs or all race horses are equal. Of course, all men are not created equal any more so than are all other members of the animal kingdom. Even if they are created equal, creation ends when life begins, and life is always unequal.
The article is a fairly typical philosophical defense of inequality: in any free society, some will acquire more than others. This happens because we have different talents and interests, and make different choices. A free society must not deny or limit those differences, and a virtuous society must encourage better talents, interests, and choices through greater rewards. Thus, greater inequality is proof of greater liberty.
"Compassion and Equality describe Europe."
Thus wrote guest columnist Will Warner on a Michigan community news site, in a column headlined Liberty, not equality is the guiding principle of America. In a truly astonishing example of doublespeak, Warner writes:
As an American, you are "on your own," but not in the sarcastic way Barack Obama suggested in his nomination acceptance speech two years ago. You are expected to get it done, make it happen, hold up your end. Rightly or wrongly, failing to provide for yourself is shameful. Even when repelled by this thought, and willing to cut others some slack, we believe it is true for ourselves.
This is why, for example, we are apparently the only industrialized country that tolerates homelessness. Despite the fact that it breaks our hearts to see people in that situation, as Americans we assume (sometimes probably incorrectly) that the homeless have made choices that brought them to their predicament, and we cannot bring ourselves to interfere with their freedom to make those choices -- even when we suspect an individual may be mentally ill.
Try not to drown in the crocodile tears. In fact Warner means "you're on your own" in precisely the sarcastic way President Obama suggested: in the Tea Party Republicans' American dream, you have the freedom to choose homelessness, even if you're mentally ill.
Unemployed and can't pay your bills? Don't be angry at the Senate who voted not to extend unemployment benefits, or at Wall Street bankers who drew seven-figure bonuses after bankrupting our economy. Be ashamed of yourself for failing your American duty. You should have chosen to be a senator or a banker.
"I've never got a job from a poor man in my life."
This has become a mantra for the Tea Party GOP. "If laborers are the engine of our economy," the FreedomWorks author writes, "the wealthy are surely the gasoline - taking risks, starting businesses, investing, employing."
Then why, if the rich are getting richer in this recession, are so many unemployed? They should have plenty of cash on hand to pay their employees, and there should be plenty of jobs available. But there aren't plenty of jobs available ... because wealthy investors don't create jobs.
Who really creates jobs? Customers.
Broadly speaking, the more customers a business has, the more employees it must hire to meet the customers' demand. If the customers stop buying, the business fails and its employees are out of work. Those former employees, now out of work, can't afford to keep buying things. So they stop being customers, and the businesses they once patronized have to lay off employees. It's called an economic contraction, and it's the defining characteristic of a recession.
Making the rich richer while sacrificing the unemployed on the altar of "liberty" will not bring back jobs, because we don't work for rich people. We work for customers, too many of whom can't afford to be customers right now. "You're on your own" may be the Tea Party GOP's American Dream ... but for the rest of us it's a nightmare.
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Happy Thursday!
Crossposted from Blogistan Polytechnic Institute (BPICampus.com)