Equality is an inalienable right which is guaranteed to all American citizens by the Declaration of Independence. Equality is an extremely important part of the American Dream, but to what extent are we naturally equal, and how far does government need to go to insure equality for all?
Obviously there are some who are created smarter than others, those with better athletic abilities, and even those with more of an artistic ability. Clearly people are not created equal but they are, in fact, created different. However in a free society all people should have equal opportunity to pursue there own happiness and self actualization.
Recent developments in the United States involve taxing all to provide some people, who are less fortunate, access to important things like healthcare and education. Many would argue that for the overall good of the country all citizens should have access to education and healthcare which could ultimately lead to greater prosperity for our nation. Is this really fair? Does this sort of taxation not take away some amount of freedom and equality from those who work hard to earn their money?
To be a leading super power in the world requires a healthy, educated population. The benefit of a free society is not to receive money from others, it is to have the ability to be free and lift one's self up. As Winston Churchill put it "I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle." We should all have an equal opportunity to achieve our own pursuits, but only through hard work and dedication, and not by exploiting the labors of others.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Sean Toohey recently blogged about equality and how it is ‘unfair’ that the rich will be taxed more than the poor. Toohey states in his article that “Recent developments in the United States involve taxing all to provide some people, who are less fortunate, access to important things like healthcare and education”, when he says ‘all’ we can only assume he means the wealthy few seeing as how most low- to middle-income families are unable to afford health insurance, unable to make mortgage payments, unable to spend on luxuries, and are unable to send their children to college.
Toohey declares that “We should all have an equal opportunity to achieve our own pursuits, but only through hard work and dedication, and not by exploiting the labors of others”; Toohey obviously believes that ‘anyone can succeed through hard work and dedication’, but clearly he has not conducted any kind of research seeing as how the facts say otherwise. Statistics show that ‘dumb rich kids’ have a higher chance of finishing college than the ‘smart poor kids’. Current surveys prove that social mobility (equal opportunity) is far lower than it once was thanks to the bush tax cuts increasing economic inequality. Untalented children with wealthy parents are able to receive better education than talented children with poor parents, so children of the poor stay poor while the children of the rich stay rich.
Toohey states “Obviously there are some who are created smarter than others, those with better athletic abilities, and even those with more of an artistic ability…However in a free society all people should have equal opportunity to pursue [their] own happiness and self actualization”. Toohey fails to realize that those more talented people, if they are poor, have little-to-no chance to compete according to recent statistics. That is not only an injustice, but also a huge waste of potential as we could have better people for the job.
Toohey speaks of ‘equality’, yet he fails to realize the severe lack of it. He fails to realize that due to the bush tax cuts (relieved tax on the rich); economic inequality has completely murdered equal opportunity. As of right now low- to middle-income families pay a larger share of their paychecks than the rich in taxes. If we make taxes more proportional by increasing it on the wealthy, it should reduce economic inequality; allowing better equal opportunity (‘equality’).
In response to “Equal Entitlement” “…all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…” this sentence in the Declaration of Independence does not take into account the diversity in this country. It sounds great in theory and the government is attempting to make changes towards equality but I think that the entire nation would have to start completely over for that to happen.
Yes, there are individuals that are more educated than others, which should open up more employment doors for them, just as someone who has a natural skill that does not have a college degree has other doors open to them whom are just as happy with their life.
The focus is on the individuals that don’t have the college degree or were they born with a natural skill and struggle to live day to day. For whatever reason these individuals had little or no opportunity to advance in their life due to their sole focus is on surviving. The government has set up programs for those individuals to get the help they need, such as education and healthcare.
As far as more taxes for the wealthy I feel that is not fair because like most Americans they are working for their money and that is theirs, but as the saying goes “nothing in life is fair.” I think if the wealthy were to take a small percentage and “donate” to the government for the programs instead of forcing them, it would more likely happen with out all the hype. As an incentive the wealthy would get a tax break which would benefit all. It contradicts “all men are created equal” but it is helping out the ones in need. As the cycle continues and more programs set up “equality” seem possible. Everyone will still be separated by class since we are not able to start from scratch, but I feel there will be a decrease in poverty since more individuals will have the opportunity to advance in their life and peruse happiness on how they deem fit.
Post a Comment