There
are five facets of the ideal equality for which the Declaration of Independence argues.
(1) The kind of
equality that exists when neither of two parties can dominate the other.
(2) Humankind of
having equal access to the tool of government. Something has gone wrong when,
as scholars have recently shown, policy outcomes routinely track the stated
preferences of the affluent but not those of the middle class or the poor.
(3) The value of
egalitarian approaches to the development of collective intelligence. Experts
are most valuable when they work hand in hand with a well-educated general
population capable of supplying useful social knowledge to deliberations.
(4) The egalitarian
practices of reciprocity. How well do citizens do at thinking of themselves as
receiving benefactions from their fellow citizens and owing them benefits in
return?
(5) The equality
entailed in sharing ownership of public life and in co-creating our common
world. When we worry, for instance, that young people don’t vote or are
apathetic, we recognize that we’ve failed to cultivate in them a sense of
having an equal ownership stake in what we make together.
Source:
Our Declaration: A Reading of the
Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality
By
Danielle Allen © 2014l Liveright Publishing Corporation, New York, NY; pp.
108-109.
