The Equality Delusion

For freedom and equality are sworn and everlasting enemies, and when one prevails the other dies. Leave men free, and their natural inequalities will multiply almost geometrically, as in England and America in the nineteenth century under laissez-faire. To check the growth of inequality, liberty must be sacrificed, as in Russia after 1917. Even when repressed, inequality grows; only the man who is below the average in economic ability desires equality; those who are conscious of superior ability desire freedom; and in the end superior ability has its way.

— Will Durant, The Lessons of History

I once took a college class called “Youth, Democracy, and Entertainment Industry.”

There were around thirty students in the class, and we would gather in an old brick building that smelled like dusty books. One student was a quiet Eastern European girl who sat in the back and never spoke—more on her later. On the first day, the professor walked in late with a vegetable in his hand and described himself as a socialist.

Throughout the semester, I found the things the professor would say so disrespectful to basic common sense and reason that I would have lost respect for myself if I didn’t push back. To listen to this professor was to have your intelligence insulted. Being told man and woman are false constructs. Hour after hour dedicated to analyzing the threat of toxic masculinity. Flawed zero sum views of capitalism. Despite—or perhaps because of—these absurd ideas, I began to look forward to going to this class. There is something so exciting about hearing things with which you disagree. I would show up with a tea in hand, ready for intellectual war.

Throughout the semester, there was much talk about equality. One day I asked a question to the group: “Why is Jayson Tatum in the NBA, while I play pick-up at the rec center?” I remember a long awkward silence filling the air.

Before making my point more explicit, I made an important preface. That preface was something like this: People are equal in the sense that every human consciousness is sacred and has value. People are equal in that we all deserve equal rights. People are equal in that we all share a common humanity.

But, I continued, in intelligence, skills, and creativity, the simple fact is that people are not equal. Therefore, people cannot ever be equal in terms of life outcomes. In finances, in knowledge, in relationships, in anything. Because not everyone does everything equally well. Some people are better at this, some people know more about that, and so forth. Which is a good thing. Remember? Common sense?

Yet no one in the class, at least out loud, seemed to agree with this argument. More silence.

That was until I went further along that line of thinking.

I then started to explain that this is the inherent evil of communism. That is, trying to force people to be equal when they are anything but. Now that generated a lot of responses. Angry responses.

At some point I poured gasoline on the fire when I said to the group that the very fact they are attending university in the U.S. is proof they want to become less equal, for if you strive for any type of success, then by definition you are striving to become less equal than other people. And presumably, by being at university, you are striving for some form of success.

That was the kill shot. People grew super offended. I started getting shredded by shouts of the mob. Whether their arguments made sense or not, my face was probably quite red.

Until something happened.

It was the quiet girl who sat in the back. I can’t recall her saying anything all semester except for at this moment. I remember the trembling in her voice when she said something like, “My family grew up in the Soviet Union, and I agree with him,” nodding to me. I felt relieved. Not because “winning” this argument mattered, but because there was another critical thinker in the class.

Saying the basic idea that people are not equal made the professor and my fellow students upset. But they can suck it up. Because as the family of the Eastern European girl unfortunately knows, it is dangerous to pretend like this is not a fact.

“A society that puts equality—in the sense of equality of outcome—ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom,” said economist Milton Friedman, “the use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom, and the force, introduced for good purposes, will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own interests.” Nailed it. This is the lesson embedded in George Orwell’s story Animal Farm. We have plenty of tragic historical examples of this happening—namely in China, Cambodia, and of course, the Soviet Union.

We need to avoid this danger.

Every human life is precious and valuable. But a society that pretends equal outcomes among individuals are desirable is a deluded society; a culture that discourages the pursuit of excellence is a disgraceful culture. As we have seen repeatedly throughout history, these conditions lead to tyranny. Despite the social cost—in my case a deranged professor and some emotional college students believing I am a bad person—it is worth standing up for this principle. It is worth challenging bad ideas before they get the chance to become worse. There is a shy Eastern European girl waiting for someone like you to speak up.

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This essay was originally published on October 10th, 2024.