{"id":8980,"date":"2015-11-16T18:51:16","date_gmt":"2015-11-16T23:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=8980"},"modified":"2015-11-16T19:12:59","modified_gmt":"2015-11-17T00:12:59","slug":"liberty-vs-equality-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberty vs. Equality (1977)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Liberty-Leading-The-People\"<\/a>

Liberty Leading the People, France 1830<\/p><\/div>\n

Some of the college protestors around the nation are condemning American society because of the inequal academic and economic achievements between different races and ethnic groups. There are lots of things\u00a0government does to tilt the playing field but many of the protestors\u00a0will be unsatisfied until\u00a0 government forcibly imposes equal results across the board.\u00a0\u00a0 That type of equalization will be the death of liberty – as any business or institution that has fallen under the EEOC’s iron fist <\/a>knows too well.<\/p>\n

The hubbub reminds me of the first article I ever sold.\u00a0 In the late 1970s, the Freeman<\/strong>, published by the Foundation for Economic Education<\/a>, was open to previously unpublished writers – a rarity among conservative-leaning publications.\u00a0 They paid 5 cents a word for the piece reposted below – sufficient to have me whooping for joy.\u00a0\u00a0That sell spurred me to keep plugging away at writing at a time when no one else was printing my efforts.<\/p>\n

My interest in the controversy over liberty and equality had been stoked by discussions with my father who, as a geneticist, scoffed at the notion of natural equality. Unfortunately, many people who denied heredity\u2019s influence wanted to use government power to forcibly raze differences in achievement..<\/p>\n

My semi-wooden essay attacked socialist notions of freedom that required repressing citizens in the name of equality. Strictly avoiding any trace of understatement, I proclaimed: “We are surrounded by the relics of liberty smashed on the insatiable altar of equality… Freedom of speech and press are hollow when the State feeds the speaker and owns the press… We should not abandon an incomplete liberty for a perfect servitude.”\u00a0 Shortly after the article was accepted, I jotted in my journal: “Democracy is freedom for the mass to level<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

This is an essay from a young writer (I was 20 when I wrote it) and that shows in plenty of passages which me grimace and a few that make me cringe.\u00a0 (I returned to some of these themes in a 1999 book, Freedom in Chains<\/a>.)\u00a0But what the heck – I’ll send the piece once more around the track – along with a hat tip to the late Paul Poirot<\/strong>, the editor who accepted it.<\/p>\n

The Freeman,<\/strong> October 1977<\/p>\n

Liberty &\/Vs. Equality<\/a><\/p>\n

by James Bovard<\/p>\n

We sometimes fail to recognize the great conflict between two of our ideals\u2014liberty and equality. In fits of utopianism, we have assumed that our minds are social and politi\u00adcal alchemists, deriving gold from whatever process we believe in. The romantic pursuit of two ideals is leading to the failure of both. Unless we can constrain our desires to the dictates of reality, we will become tyrannized by our own dreams.<\/p>\n

“Equality” can mean equal mate\u00adrial goods and income, equal social status, and equal general success and “happiness” in life. Or, it can mean equality before the law, which is in a different and higher category, and without which liberty would be precarious. However, there is no necessary connection between equality before the law and equal property, power, and so forth. Equal\u00adity before the law is the “natural” state in a political society, but equality of goods and social life in general is “unnatural,” and would take a great amount of regulation and coercion to achieve and sustain.<\/p>\n

I define liberty as the absence of coercion, the individual\u2019s right to do whatever he chooses with his life and property as long as he does not directly harm others. There are other definitions of liberty currently being bounced around; however, we will use the concept that does not necessitate the state\u2019s constant em\u00adpirical coercion of the individual in order to reach a higher metaphysi\u00adcal realm of freedom.<\/p>\n

Even Rousseau conceded that broad natural inequalities exist at birth. This fact has seemed evident to all men at all times, aside from certain skeptics in the last century. Many philosophers or theologians have affirmed the theoretical or theological equality of man at birth; however, few have argued that men are born equal in all capacities. The concept of natural equality of rights is a product of the natural law school of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Nineteenth century socialists, with “social justice” as their measure of reality, worked out some attractive conclusions from the assumption that men are born equal in all capacities, so they decided their premise must be true. Lenin\u2019s plans for the end of the division of labor, allowing all men to do all jobs, is a typical example.<\/p>\n

Genetic Differences <\/strong><\/p>\n

There have been schools of biology and psychology which up\u00adheld the banners of genetic equality, but these seemed more inspired by political conviction than by concrete evidence. In both these areas, pres\u00adent trends show greater concessions to hereditary inequality. As not all men are uniform, they are often dif\u00adferent; as they are different, in\u00adequalities must result (unless we believe in only “equal” differen\u00adces).<\/p>\n

No one would dispute the fact of great differences in potential physi\u00adcal structure at birth (some were born to be five feet tall, and others six feet five inches); however, as soon as one speculates that the physically-determining genes might not be entirely and radically differ\u00adent from the mentally-determining genes, screams of “racist” and “elitist” fill the air. But why would the physically and mentally determining genes be so very different in their structure? If some universal orderer did design the plan, why would He allow such obvious physi\u00adcal inequalities to coincide with such perfect mental equality? Also, taking the evolutionist view, certain different physical traits have evolved from the challenge of vari\u00adous environments; is it not also likely that certain broad mental dif\u00adferences would evolve from the same cause?<\/p>\n

Regulating the Environment <\/strong><\/p>\n

But even conceding for argu\u00adment\u2019s sake genetic equality, how could the environment be insured against creating inequalities? Even individuals who are (hypothetically) exactly the same develop differences when subjected to different influ\u00adences. Free societies, by their very nature, are very diverse, influencing different people countless different ways in various places and times. If one wished to see equality pre\u00adserved, one would need to have tight controls over the influences on every individual. In order to preserve an equal people, an equal and uniform <\/em>environment would need to be en\u00adforced. <\/em><\/p>\n

Egalitarians might argue that the state could raise all the chil\u00addren, shaping them in order to equalize them. But this would create a leviathan state likely to suppress the people, destroy the family unity and all the freedom and autonomy that accompany it, and lead to a lifetime of coercion in order to pre\u00adserve freedom to be equal. Others would contend that with the proper regulations and order in a society, inequalities would be prevented, while “freedom” was preserved.<\/p>\n

But what is the value of freedom if the individuals are not allowed to use their “liberty” as they see fit? The society has sacrificed all the realities of liberty to the preserva\u00adtion of a metaphysical phantom of equality. Free society implies the maximum of individual choice, lim\u00adited only by the physical safety of other individuals. Perhaps socialists and egalitarians consider inequality unsafe, and thus justify multiplying the restraints and coercion of in\u00addividuals to achieve a “truer” liberty.<\/p>\n

Again, if a society is truly free, a high amount of diversity will exist. Individuals will choose different paths, some for the better, some for the worse. But to have one narrow level road, and to actively restrain people from going on their own, to quickly drag down anyone with as\u00adpirations for mountain climbing: this is neither free nor healthy.<\/p>\n

Elusive Justice <\/strong><\/p>\n

Somewhere in the intellectual fog of the past century, inequality per se became associated with injus\u00adtice. Currently many people have guilty consciences if they observe inequalities which have not been leveled. They think what adverse psychological effects the individual\u2019s excellence has on the group ego, and seek to crush all such excellence in the name of egalitarian utility. When the denial of empirical facts becomes a moral obligation, both intellect and morality are in deep trouble.<\/p>\n

The achievement of economic equality would destroy almost all economic liberty. Anyone above a certain low level would have most of his income and property confiscated. Some would condone this in the name of justice and utility. How\u00adever, if any freedom means or is worth anything to the common man, it is usually economic freedom. The average person does not express radical opinions or act as an extreme nonconformist.<\/p>\n

Humanity always has had few philosophers and radicals. But, espe\u00adcially in recent centuries, the spirit of economic competition and ac\u00adcumulation has permeated the mass\u00ades. This is a major cause of the West\u2019s current high standard of liv\u00ading. We can morally condemn the people, tell them they should desire other things, and destroy all outlets of competition. However, would this not be a great infringement on their liberty? If the common man is as\u00adsigned a certain job in a certain place, dictated his salary, told his hours, will his conception of his per\u00adsonal freedom not greatly suffer?<\/p>\n

A Deadly Alternative <\/strong><\/p>\n

Granted, contemporary capital\u00adism is far from perfect competi\u00adtion; but, with an obsession for absolutes, we should not abandon an incomplete liberty for a perfect ser\u00advitude. Much of the life of the com\u00admon man (constant TV, loud stereo, alcohol, and the like) is stimulated by an urge to escape from boredom, though there is also a pervading sense of insecurity. To guarantee them a job and welfare might make life intolerably unchallenging for them.<\/p>\n

As always, with liberty comes the possibility of failure. If the humanitarians who cannot bear to see individuals suffer for their own errors continue their efforts, we soon will have a whole society suffering from (due to) the ignorance of the “humanitarians.” To take from a person all incentive and responsibil\u00adity for his own success and pros\u00adperity would naturally destroy much of the challenge and excitement of life. What could possibly be more boring than a guaranteed low level of success through fifty work\u00ading years, with no chance to rise above or fall below official stan\u00addards?<\/p>\n

Given the different desires and capacities of individuals, economic equality could only be preserved by economic tyranny. The state would need tremendous control and power over all the people. Economic equal\u00adity would for all practical purposes destroy private property, thus un\u00addermining the foundation of civil, political, and individual freedom. When the state owns or supplies all the necessities of life, any dissent can easily be starved out. Capital is needed for successful dissent and criticism, and economic equality would destroy almost all capital sources. Freedom of speech and press are hollow when the state feeds the speaker and owns the press. In a free economy, dissenting opinions almost always can find employment and support from some source.<\/p>\n

Natural Discrimination <\/strong><\/p>\n

To try to insure social equality would be to fight many of the most “natural” (in the sense of constant historical existence) tendencies in man. Again, society, being composed of different people with different tastes, will form into different groups and segments, according to people\u2019s values and choice. With numerous different groups with dif\u00adferent values, some are likely to be thought of as better than others. A hierarchy will establish itself in people\u2019s attitudes, and social dis\u00adcrimination (liking some more than others) will occur.<\/p>\n

The only alternative to social in\u00adequality is the greatest tyranny im\u00adaginable, not allowing any groups to form, not allowing anyone any knowledge about anyone else. Where there is information, there is judgment; and where there is judg\u00adment, there likely will be discrimi\u00adnation.<\/p>\n

The place for the reformer to bat\u00adtle social inequality is in the thoughts and values of the members of society, not solely in the empirical arrangement. The state can pass de\u00adcrees demanding an equal and univ\u00adersal love and concern, but this will only be as effective as any other metaphysical, romantic delusion. Social equality will be gained only in the hearts of men, not from the laws of the state.<\/p>\n

Not the Inequality, But the Coercion Is Evil <\/strong><\/p>\n

As long as economic inequality exists and the population is not uni\u00adform in every way, social inequality will exist. But inequality is only an evil when it is directly coercive or oppressive. To assume that everyone has an equal right to any thing or position that anyone else has, is to call forth the great leveler of all progress, excellence, and sanity.<\/p>\n

Some have believed that liberty must be equal, or else it is not lib\u00aderty. However, liberty, being the ab\u00adsence of coercion rather than the presence of some material good, is not measurable. And, since different people have different tastes, desires, and values, they will use their lib\u00aderty in different (and hence, “un\u00adequal”) ways. To insist that all use their liberty the same would destroy it. Some socialists argue that, due to different social and economic condi\u00adtions, some have more liberty than others. Again, excessive desire for equality of anything leads to restric\u00adtions and organization.<\/p>\n

If freedom means the absence of coercion, then those are more free who are less coerced. But if we as\u00adsume coercion to come mainly from government, then the lack of coer\u00adcion would be basically equal for all, assuming equality before the law. If, as socialists do, we consider coercion to come from unsatisfied desires, then, as some are more satisfied than others, they are unjustly more free. If we accepted such “reason\u00ading,” we could get into all sorts of clever paradoxes and doubtful de\u00admands, which only some Hegelian or Marxist who believed in the “nega\u00adtion of the negation” could resolve.<\/p>\n

The true liberty (absence of coer\u00adcion) and the most valuable equality (before the law) can and must exist together. When we begin blindly pursuing absolutes and romantic ideals, we can only expect our em\u00adpirical conditions to suffer. The fiery passion of the first “Libert\u00e9, Egalite, Fraternit\u00e9” <\/em>led to despotism, and we must expect the same pitfall if we follow the same path. As Trotsky said, history cannot be cheated: if we repeat the past\u2019s delusions, we must also repeat their downfalls<\/strong>. We are surrounded by the relics of liberty smashed on the insatiable altar of equalit<\/strong>y: we can either clear our minds and begin reconstructing, or we can continue appeasing the deity of our time. But if we choose the latter, we must also doom the future to despotism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of the college protestors around the nation are condemning American society because of the inequal academic and economic achievements between different races and ethnic groups. There are lots of things\u00a0government does to tilt the playing field but many of the protestors\u00a0will be unsatisfied until\u00a0 government forcibly imposes equal results across the board.\u00a0\u00a0 That type […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[301,52,300,45,763,164,762,123,657,160,764],"class_list":["post-8980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-affirmative-action-2","tag-democracy","tag-equality-2","tag-freedom","tag-freeman","tag-leviathan","tag-liberty-versus-equality","tag-public-policy-hooligan","tag-rule-of-law","tag-socialism","tag-trotsky"],"yoast_head":"\nLiberty vs. Equality (1977) - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Liberty vs. Equality (1977) - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Some of the college protestors around the nation are condemning American society because of the inequal academic and economic achievements between different races and ethnic groups. 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The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. 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There are lots of things\u00a0government does to tilt the playing field but many of the protestors\u00a0will be unsatisfied until\u00a0 government forcibly imposes equal results across the board.\u00a0\u00a0 That type […]","og_url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/","og_site_name":"James Bovard","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","article_published_time":"2015-11-16T23:51:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-11-17T00:12:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":466,"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Liberty-Leading-The-People.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jimbovard","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim","Est. reading time":"12 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/"},"author":{"name":"Jim","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"headline":"Liberty vs. Equality (1977)","datePublished":"2015-11-16T23:51:16+00:00","dateModified":"2015-11-17T00:12:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/"},"wordCount":2463,"commentCount":6,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Liberty-Leading-The-People.jpg","keywords":["affirmative action","Democracy","Equality","Freedom","freeman","leviathan","liberty versus equality","Public Policy Hooligan","Rule of Law","socialism","Trotsky"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/","name":"Liberty vs. Equality (1977) - James Bovard","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Liberty-Leading-The-People.jpg","datePublished":"2015-11-16T23:51:16+00:00","dateModified":"2015-11-17T00:12:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Liberty-Leading-The-People.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Liberty-Leading-The-People.jpg","width":750,"height":466},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/16\/liberty-vs-equality-1977\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Liberty vs. Equality (1977)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/","name":"James Bovard","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f","name":"Jim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Jim"},"description":"Bovard's homepage is at http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \"the roving inspector general of the modern state\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \"one-man truth squad.\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. 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