I just shared my bitter brew post with a new person, and it reminded me of this amazing Wondermark comic.
https://wondermark.com/c/1135/
Because yes. If we did want equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome, we would not have inheritance.
For that matter, we couldn’t even let children be raised by their parents! Even aside from the money issue (already solved in our Glorious Meritocratic Utopia), parents are of varying quality. My parents gave me unconditional love and support (even though we’ve had our arguments), while other parents are abusive.
So we would need a robotic state crèche for all the children to grow up in, to make sure their Equality of Opportunity Not of Outcome stays equal.
Do you hear how absurd that sounds? Do you WANT to end up in Harrison Bergeron? Or in Anthem? (As a side note, I read those two stories around the same time in high school, and woweee did I not realize the authors were very different until adulthood. Still the only Rand book I’ve read.)
Anyway. “Equality of Opportunity” is an impossibility. The best we can do is to stay mindful of the inequalities that do pop up, and try our best to mitigate them. It won’t be perfect but we can do our best.
Emilybook 