I keep hearing folks say that we all agree on core liberal values—that we all favor economic equality, gender equality, sexual preference equality, religious equality, health equality and all the rest. It sounds great, but I simply don’t believe that most people here really do believe in all those things.
Let’s start with the basics, what do we mean by equality. I think most of us here believe it is equality of opportunity. That everyone has the same chance to succeed, and fail, as any other. We also believe that there must be a safety net for those that fail. That being poor should not be a death sentence, that some basic minimum quality of life must be had by all.
So...what does that mean in practice.
Racial equality means that race is not correlated with wealth, imprisonment, extrajudicial killings or anything else. Racial equality means that any person, of any race is just as likely to be rich or poor, in prison or not, or killed by the police.
Gender equality means that gender is not correlated with wealth, job advancement, or intimate violence or anything else. Gender equality means that any person, of whatever gender is just as likely to be rich or poor, boss or subordinate, or the victim of violence.
Economic equality means that wealth is not correlated with the wealth of people’s parents, or life expectancy, or educational level or anything else. Economic equality means that any person, no matter the wealth they were born into, has the same chances of being rich or poor, living to old age, and getting an education.
Obviously I could go on, with all sorts of groups, with all sorts of problems they face. But the short version is simple, equality of opportunity means that gender, race, the wealth of our parents, sexual orientation and other factors are unrelated to success in life—that everyone has the opportunity to excel, and only the quality of their character (and luck) matters.
How we get to equality is not entirely obvious, though some are simple. County prosecutors who disproportionately prosecute minorities should be fired and jailed. Companies that underpay women should be fined and shuttered. The rich should not be able to use their money to give their children unfair advantages (100% inheritance tax, public education for all).
Those are the obvious steps, there are many, many others.