A Bit on Equality

This essay is a little piece I had to write for a Government class. Nothing special, just a particular enjoyment in breaking both party's legs.

Equality - the misguided idea that those of lesser ability and prestige deserve what those of greater worth have - takes on an entertaining, unique perspective in politics. In the blue corner, you have the bleeding hearts, those who would seek to drain their own blood to see the poor man live another day. Honorable and righteous they call themselves, but to coronate the proletariate is hardly an act worthy of such title. In the red corner you have a mafia of white, old men. Demons and scoundrels who would sooner burn holy books than allow any trace of government-sanctioned redistribution of wealth set foot in their domain. The words "greedy vampire" come to mind.

To the champions of the blue team, equality invokes an image where, with the bastion of government vanguarding the crusade, the bring the country's poor and needy back to their feet at a job. Unrealistic Romantics. Such a world ignores a human's basic instinct - self-interest.
To the aristocrats of the red, though, equality see government crushed to a pulp. They see the world through the ruby shades of Herbert Spencer - a savage Darwinian struggle where the strong will rise to power and wealth, their victims are, and deserve, to be left bloodied corpses, and the smart will feast on their remains like vultures. To them, equality is the right to the equality of opportunity. A right which they have not granted, though they would argue otherwise.

But to see either of the extremes as a real solution or option is somewhat ridiculous. To redistribute wealth blindly removes the drive to perform at maximum; it removes the drive for individual achievement. On the other hand, if you choose to allow the maiming of your countrymen by economic titans, and never work to ensure that the disabled and the sick don't fall in to depravity, when you refuse to provide health benefits for your citizens because it wouldn't increase taxes one cent, seems to label you either selfish or intellectually unfortunate. Some people might call you "a dim bulb", "not the sharpest tool in the shed", "sandwich short of a picnic", "slow", etc. To truly achieve a fair degree of equality, our systems need to reformed. We are torn between two opposing forces, and they are tearing our efforts to pieces. We must come to terms with the realities of these social reforms. Welfare serves a purpose, but it is misused and abused and must be made stricter, or we're throwing money away. Universal Health Care must be implemented if we want to revive the economy, because less money out of our pockets is more money to induce business, to say nothing of the relief it takes off of school districts and their stressed budgets. Its just such a shame that sadists and masochists can't meet in the middle for a greater good. It must be the fetishes.