Freedom in One Lesson

70.

Common Justice, Not Equality

Most people agree that “equality” is a good thing because it is the socially acceptable thing to say. But to think that equality is always good and worth pursuing is to ignore important issues.

Some forms of equality are inconsistent with others. One form of equality may not necessarily be good, because it may crowd out a more important form, which is the case when equality of results is used to justify inequality of treatment. Some inequalities are sources of crucial social benefits, such as the massive gains from the differences in people’s abilities that are coordinated through voluntary market arrangements.

Leonard Read thinks through such issues and comes to some important but unfortunately out of the mainstream conclusions in “Inequality Enshrined,” from his 1974 book Having My Way (Read 1974). Especially for those dedicated to liberty, it is worth considering his thoughts.

Books, speeches, expressed yearnings—past and present—have much to say in favor of equality, and they promote a demand for it. We are equal in the eyes of God, they say; we are equal before the law; we are born equal, have equal rights, are entitled to equal pay, on and on. While numerous philosophers and statesmen have recognized how all-pervading inequality is, few have enshrined it, that is, portrayed inequality as a highly desirable state of affairs. Inequality exists, unfortunately! I have just had a change of mind: inequality exists, fortunately! . . .

We have here a semantic trap. . . . Once we accept the idea that all men are equal before God, we are more than likely to think of equality as the major purpose of human effort and a condition to be sought, as nearly as possible, in all worldly relationships. This is a dangerous notion, completely at odds with reality.

As I now see it, men are no more equal before God than they are equal in this earthly life. Judas was not the equal of Peter!. . . . What this affirmation is intended to convey, really, is that all men are subject to the Universal Laws indiscriminately; there are no favorites; there is a common across-the board justice. With this in mind, merely reflect on the distinction between common justice and equality. They are by no means synonymous.

Inequality prevails among men. . . .

As F.A. Hayek concludes in The Constitution of Liberty:

From the fact that people are very different it follows that, if we treat them equally, the result must be inequality in their actual position, and that the only way to place them in an equal position would be to treat them differently. Equality before the law and material equality are therefore not only different but are in conflict with each other; and we can achieve either the one or the other, but not both at the same time.

The ideal civil law, like the laws of God or Natural Law, is unbiased as to who or what we are. But we are not equal in the “eyes” of the civil law any more than we are equal in the “eyes” of the Ten Commandments. These laws are blind; they have no eyes to see us. Civil laws, as the Universal Laws—if intelligently drawn—are indiscriminate; they confer no special privilege on anyone; they are but codes—blind to the thousand and one ways we rank ourselves—their hallmark being a common justice.

If we wish to say that these codes are equally as fair to you as to me, all well and good. This kind of wording, however, merely asserts that we are—one as much as another—beneficiaries of fairness and justice. By employing the right words, we avoid the notion of human equality and the mischievous deductions that grow from such a common, semantic error. . . .

What about the popular claim that we are born equal? We are no more equal at birth than at death. . . .

We have equal rights! Valid? In a way, provided “rights” are properly defined and circumscribed. Any person, regardless of race, creed, color, or whatever, has as much right to life, livelihood, liberty as any other—provided his actions are peaceful, that is, noncoercive. Observe that when thus circumscribed, the equal rights concept makes no claim on any other person; it is, instead, an appeal to reason, morality, justice. . . . It is righteous and, for this reason, utterly harmless.

I stress “harmless” simply because most people put no such boundaries on “equal rights.” Blind to the rational limitations of this concept, they are carried away with “equality” and demand equal pay, rights to a job, to “a decent standard of living,” to a “fair” wage or price. They put quotas, embargoes, tariffs on goods, meaning that they think of themselves as having a right to your and my trade. It is impossible to list the instances in which people have slumped so far in their thinking that, today, mere wishes are thought of as rights.

Take note of the fact that all of these demands for equality, beyond the rational boundary, make a claim on others. No longer harmless, they are harmful, destructive. They rob selected Peter to pay collective Paul—feathering the nests of some at the expense of others. Noncoercive? To the contrary, each and every one of these rests on raw coercion—the application of police force. . . .

The notion of equality is one of the mistaken features of our folklore, but so much lip service is given to it that the thought of inequality as a desirable condition is, at first blush, shocking. How could any sane person favor inequality! Is it because he has no compassion, no thought for his fellow men? To the contrary, I would argue. . . .

Likeness? Equality? Let us be done with this careless phrasing—this abuse of word—and the destructive thoughts to which it leads!

“Free and equal” is an oft-heard expression, suggesting that freedom and equality are as inseparable as Siamese twins. Actually, they are mutually antagonistic. The equality idea—equal pay and so on—rests on the antithesis of freedom: raw coercion. It is just as impossible to be free when equality is politically manipulated as it is impossible to be equal.

Free and unequal—freedom and inequality—are what go hand in hand. The essence of individuality is uniqueness: inequality in skills, talents, knowledge, aspirations. This is merely an acknowledgment of a Universal Law. Obviously, we must be free to produce, to exchange, to travel or we perish as surely as if all were like you or me or Socrates.

We come, finally, to the economic case for inequality. Not our likenesses, but our differences, give rise to the division of labor and the complex market processes of production and trade. We have already mentioned, and can see all about us, that in a given field of activity one person is more skilled—more productive—than another. So, it is to our advantage to specialize and to trade with other specialists.

. . . By thus serving others—and becoming ever more skilled and outstanding (unequal) in the process—he best serves his own interest.

. . . This comparative advantage in trading, which rewards the most renowned specialist, also rewards in similar fashion every other party to such trade, down to the very least-skilled participant in the market. This is not to say that their gains would be equal; only that each gains from the trade more goods and services than otherwise would have been his. . . . However wealthy or poor and skilled or unskilled . . . each finds a comparative advantage in trading—if it is voluntary.

Not only does this blessing of inequality flow from the mental or physical skills of traders; it also pertains to the capital, the tools of the trade, the savings and investments by individuals. The specialist who saves and develops tools becomes ever more specialized and efficient. And it is to the advantage of every participant in the market to encourage the saver and investor by respecting and protecting his property—even though the result is greater inequality of wealth than before. . . .

So, if a people would avoid falling to a low level of sameness and bare subsistence, the procedure is to cultivate and accentuate their differences in skills and in private ownership and use of property—these being the requisites for a flourishing and beneficial trade. . . .

That, in brief, is the economic case for inequality. Sadly, the misunderstanding and misapplication of the concept of “equality” affords a major explanation for the leveling programs—egalitarianism—going on in the world today. . . . So, I take my stand for inequality.

Let us then enshrine inequality by acknowledging and embracing this fact of Nature—inequality—and, also, its working handmaiden: human freedom. Allow no interference with creative activities, which is to say, permit anyone to do anything he chooses so long as it is peaceful. A fair field and no favor!

Read sees through the logical errors in simplistic endorsements of equality. He sees that equality in the sense of common justice—the most essential kind of equality for individual liberty and social cooperation—is (even more so today) being crowded out by attempts to generate more equal results, which impose unequal treatment and violate common justice. Further, he sees that the vast gains that come from our inequalities—which are developed and put to good use in voluntary market interactions—are also at risk from attempts to equalize results. These are crucial lessons to learn if we hope to keep the many politically correct forms of equality from completely overwhelming both common justice and the gains made possible only by our differences.