EconlibThe LibraryOther Sites |
Front Page  Titles (by Subject) Equality of Condition - Literature of Liberty, January/March 1978, vol. 1, No. 1
Return to Title Page for Literature of Liberty, January/March 1978, vol. 1, No. 1The Online Library of LibertyA project of Liberty Fund, Inc.Search this Title:Also in the Library:
Equality of Condition - Leonard P. Liggio, Literature of Liberty, January/March 1978, vol. 1, No. 1 [1978]Edition used:Literature of Liberty: A Review of Contemporary Liberal Thought was published first by the Cato Institute (1978-1979) and later by the Institute for Humane Studies (1980-1982) under the editorial direction of Leonard P. Liggio.
Part of: Literature of Liberty: A Review of Contemporary Liberal Thought, 20 vols. 19781-982
About Liberty Fund:Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. Copyright information:This work is copyrighted by the Institute for Humane Studies, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, and is put online with their permission. Fair use statement:This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit.
Equality of Condition
“The Fatal Ambivalence of an Idea: Equal Freeman or Equal Serfs?” Encounter (UK), 47 (1976):10–21. Equality before the law differs critically from equality of condition or result. The concept of condition or result has reached extraordinary power with intellectuals; John Rawls's egalitarianism and distributionism theories are the root of much of this. As these intellectuals influence the political mind, liberty and authority will continue to decline. Unless free men soon discern the distinctions between the two concepts of equality, Western Civilization is headed irreversibly towards a peculiar form of despotism. The “servile state” is upon us. The secret of its achievement is simple: “By concentrating upon the inequalities which exist in any more or less free society, especially the inequalities observable in the economic sphere,” redistributionist legislation and bureaucrats produce forms of inequality greater than those eradicated. This process is rendered more or less painless by the rhetoric of egalitarianism and social justice. 
|
