Equity is the idea of lifting the underdog up to have a viable chance because somehow the underdog didn't have the same opportunity. This implies that not everyone has the same tools available at the start. It is independent of equality, which is to say that everyone has the same set of tools and it's a matter of how those tools are used in order to achieve success with them. Equity sounds lovely on the surface. It tugs at the heart strings because pretty much anyone can agree that we'd love to see everyone else succeed. Let's make sure that everybody has a chance. An example I've read had to do with two individuals picking apples from a tree. That tree leaned to one side much further than the other. It allowed for one person to easily access the apples from the ground level, with little effort. The other person, though, needed much more in order to get at the apples. Equity came into play when tools were used to correct the station of the tree so that both people required the same effort in order to obtain the apples. What's not discussed, though, is the inherent fallacies involved with what would be required for equity to function. There are indeed a few and those few are sadly ignored. It's sad because they're quite glaring when brought to light. Little is harder to swallow than evil being swept under the rug by the use of heart string tugs. Let's discuss a couple of these fallacies. One fallacy revolves around an assumption of inherent and immutable inequality, typically based on race. I've discussed this in another article, but it is the direct basis for racial superiority complexes. By agreeing that a race is inferior, one must agree that another or others are superior. This is supremacy. One must believe themselves superior to others, or inferior to others for the reverse side, based solely on the color of an individuals skin to agree with this position. It doesn't matter how one wants to cut it… That's racism, plain and simple. Another fallacy strangely shares roots in the hypothesis of the Conservation of Energy (or Matter). This is to say that the boost up for the underdog has to come from somewhere. That somewhere would end up being the government. The government does not produce the boost it would be providing. It's quite agreeable that the government does not produce any products at all. The tools for this boost must come from somewhere, though. An economy is certainly a closed system. Therefore, the only way for the boost to be supplied is for others to give up some of their own tools. As we well know, this isn't a voluntary thing. The tools will be forcefully taken from others in order to be given to the underdog. That's theft, plain and simple. In the end, equity can tug at heart strings all it wants. It can try to claim people are terrible for not wanting to help others; however, it is rooted in at least two very severe forms of evil. Racism and theft are no joke and do not belong in society. The better choice is to follow the advice of Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr… "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." … "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today." Maintain equality. Equality garners and delivers justice. Equality is the moral choice.
-Mike H
