Well, a couple weeks ago in my American history class at the greatest school in the world (Clear Creek Baptist Bible College), my history professor asked the question that America is trying to answer. I had heard this question before, but never so clearly. The question goes something like this: Is America supposed to provide every citizen with equal opportunity or equal results?
My goal in this post is not to persuade anyone to believe the way I believe, though I will tell you that I find the first one to be far better than the second. I simply just wanted to pose the question that everyone has been asking clearly and concisely. And, if you decide to give your two cents on question posed as a comment on my blog, it will make my day.
The answer is equal opportunity, NOT equal results. Results are dependent upon the efforts of individual people, and you simply cannot legislalte people into trying hard or peforming well. Equal opportunity, however, protects the very freedoms that our Constitution says we are born with - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
ReplyDeleteThat's a loaded question that pre-supposes there's a large constituency, a viable cultural/political that believes the latter is an actual, good outcome. That question comes from the same place as the widespread notion that anyone with a "D" after their name is a secret Marxist. It's a question that plays into the fearful undercurrent that poisons political discourse in the United States today, that views anyone not stridently conservative as someone subversive, and possibly an enemy, of this country.
ReplyDeleteAs a lifelong Democrat -- though one who voted for Ronald Reagan -- I can tell you that I've never met anyone who actually believes "equal results" is a practical, or even theoretical political/economic goal. You said that "I find the first one to be far better than the second." So do the rest of us, so it's really a false dichotomy from the start. Where those on the left and those on the right disagree is HOW to best achieve "equal opportunity." Many of us believe that achieving equal opportunity goes beyond simply eliminating legal barriers of discrimination -- which, I should point out, conservatives have also mostly opposed for the last 70 years -- and work to find additional, practical ways to level the playing field so that everybody actually does have something close to an equal opportunity. Otherwise the same skewed outcomes continue to perpetuate.
Hard work and individual skill are not the only factors that determine how far one goes in life; one's opportunities are also enhanced or reduced by a variety of other factors beyond the individual's control. The valid question is not whether we all end up at the same place at the end, but whether, and in what ways, do we ensure that all people actually get a fair shot at going as far as their own abilities can take them.
I should also add that "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" is not from the U.S. Constitution, but from the Declaration of Independence.
Wow, Tigone. The first thing I want to say is thank you for visiting my blogosphere. It's not every day that someone visits my blog, let alone makes comment on it.
ReplyDeleteThe second thing I want to say us that I am not going to respond to your comment right now. I might actually never respond. That is the great thing about blogging. Unlike homework, if you decide not to participate in blogging, there are no ramifications. Please know this is nothing against you. You're response was great, I just have something else I want to post right now and responding to your comment would take a substantial amount of time. Do know, though, I hope to come back and respond to this a little later.
The last thing I would like you to do is cordially invite you to read some of my other posts. If you are looking for a story, try reading "The Fall of Santa Fe" or "While on Patmos." If you are looking for a type of movie review, try reading "There is Only One Way Out of "The Town" (I think that is the name of it). Maybe you are interested in reading my response to Bruce Pearl's eight game suspension. If so check out "This is Not Just Because I am a UK Fan." If you decide not to check out any of those, that is o.k. too.
Until then, bless God.
No need for you to respond specifically. My post was more that a little ranty. But I'm a little bit staggered that your instructor would toss out a question like that, that's both (1) so very politically charged in the current context, and (2) not really a serious question at all, given that it actually only has one answer, but subtley suggests that it frames a larger struggle in society as whole.
ReplyDeleteAs you can guess, I'm a pretty political person. But I'm also professionally trained in history, and I'm particularly wary of the way history is sometimes mangled and misused to draw false "lessons" about current issues. It really pushes my buttons when someone uses a forum like that of your history class to impinge on current political thought. It really comes across to me as a subtle political indoctrination, dropped on students who don't yet have the knowledge or experience to recognize it for what it is. My beef's with your instructor, not you -- hope you follow that.
OK, no more ranting, I promise.
Thanks for your response, and I'll check out those other posts.
Tigone,
ReplyDeleteLeveling the playing field is definitely a challenge. How do you suggest leveling the playing field for the "have nots" in a capitalistic economy without infringing upon the rights of the "haves"? Redistributing wealth to the "have nots" hasn't really gone over too well since LBJ instituted his Great Society legislative agenda in the 1960s. All it has done is widen the gap between rich and poor, a condition which is historically proven to precede the fall of an empire (provided that the gap becomes TOO wide to sustain).
You sound like a rational thinker, Tigone, and thus wanted to ask your opinion about that loaded political subject. One other thing: why/how does the question (equal opportunity/results) reek of subtle political indoctrination?
God bless you.