The Quackery of Equality

The Quackery of Equality

By Lawrence W. Reed

"Free people are not equal, and equal people are not free."

That short saying ought to rank as one of the greatest of all time. It’s full of important meaning.

Equality before the law—that is, being judged innocent or guilty based on whether or not you committed the crime, not on what color, sex, or creed you represent—is a noble ideal and not at issue here. Nor is the time-honored concept of fair and equal application of the law. The equality to which the saying above refers pertains to economic income or material wealth. Put another way, then, the saying might read, “Free people will earn different incomes. To make them receive equal incomes, you must make them unfree.”

Those who traffic in class warfare rhetoric seem to think that whatever tax rates can do to make us all more equal in terms of income and wealth is a good idea. Plenty of points are scored by politicians who like to posture as friends of the poor and enemies of the rich.

But the truth is, economic equality in a free society is neither obtainable nor desirable. Free people are different people, so it should be no surprise that they earn different incomes. Our talents and abilities are not identical. Some work harder than others. And even if we all were magically made equal in wealth tonight, we would be unequal again in the morning because some would spend it and some would save it.

To impose economic equality, governments must issue these orders and back them up with firing squads and prisons: “Don't excel or work harder than anyone else, don't come up with any new ideas, don't take any risks, and don't do anything differently from what you did yesterday.” In other words, don't be human.

The fact that free people are not equal economically is actually a cause for rejoicing. Economic inequality, when it stems from the freedom of creative individuals and not from political power, testifies to the fact that people are being themselves, each putting his uniqueness to work in ways that are fulfilling to himself and of value to others.

People obsessed with economic equality do strange things. They become envious of others. They divide society into two piles: villains and victims. They spend far more time dragging someone else down than they do pulling themselves up. They’re not fun to be around. And if they make it to public office, they can ruin a nation.

To advance economic equality by punishing the successful or the better-off, government simply makes the whole country poorer. Laws that aim to redistribute wealth prompt the smart or politically well-connected “haves” to seek refuge in tax shelters and other economic havens here or abroad, while the politically powerless “have-nots” bear the full brunt of economic decline.

Vermont socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, who has never known a day outside of government employment and carries a chip on his shoulder the size of Greenland, is the pied piper of envy and legalized plunder. He’s a sad, angry, and perfect example of the demagogue who buys votes with other people’s money while spreading one falsehood after another. He is far more interested in punishing the rich than in helping the poor.

This economic equality thing is not compassion. When it's just an idea, it's bunk. When it finds its way into public policy, it's political quackery writ large.

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(Lawrence W. Reed, a resident of Newnan, is president emeritus of the Foundation for Economic Education. His most recent book is “Was Jesus a Socialist?” He can be reached at lreed@fee.org.)