Beneath every truth and appearance there seemingly lies a measure of paradoxical opposite --- take "Liberty" and "Equality of Opportunity" for example ...
Liberty and equality of opportunity make for interesting bed
fellows. Bed fellows?
Liberty --- together with life and the
pursuit of happiness --- are without question the most cherished rights of US citizenship. Generations of Americans have made the
ultimate sacrifice defending them. Equality
of opportunity --- the notion that each is entitled to the same access to the
American economic opportunity structure --- has been more elusive. It is in this area of economic opportunity
--- the “chance through honest toil to advance one's station in life” --- where the
goals of our nation have fallen most short.
Yet liberty and equality of opportunity, each a desirable principle, are often at
odds. Insofar as equal rights are freely
exercised, they are bound to result in inequalities, made to be perpetual. As one leading progressive thinker has
pointed out, the “marriage” --- which the free exercise of equal rights is
designed to consecrate between liberty and equality --- “gives birth to
unnatural children, whose nature it is to devour one or the other of its
parents.”
One of the most interesting challenges in American democracy involves the delicate balancing act which liberty encounters when confronted with equality of opportunity. Give the people liberty, and all is
well. Give them too much liberty, and
equality of opportunity is at sufferance as wealth begins to concentrate and
perpetuate unacceptably in the hands of a few.
Give the people too much equality of opportunity, on the other hand, and
our nation may devolve to an undesirable societal status which lacks the
proper incentive to advance on merit.
Perhaps it was easier in Jefferson’s
time on an 18th century Virginia farm. The farmer would bring his bushel of wheat to
market and receive whatever the market would bear at any given point in time. In current times, however, when the economic
system of capitalism incentivizes speculation --- making vices such as greed
and pride appear as virtues --- it’s not so easy to separate the wheat from the
chaff. Beneath every truth and
appearance there seemingly lies a measure of paradoxical opposite.
Although confounding at times, that which has
one guessing keeps life interesting, as we strive to create a more perfect
union. Americans value self-reliance and
individual responsibility. But we also
have empathy for those in need. Many who
are weak have been in need for a long time.
Why does it take so long for some of us to hear them? In a more perfect union we strive for that elusive
balance --- all in the nature of things.
-Michael D’Angelo
