Equality of Opportunity - Aaron Klein

Aaron Klein writes a wonderful and thoughtful article about the "Occupy Wall Street" crew. His website can be found here, and the article is printed below in its entirety.

I’ve been engaged in a bit of a debate this weekend about the “Occupy Wall Street” crowd, which has been protesting the “inequality” that is afflicting poor and middle class Americans.

Having stood in a mud hut in the tiny village in Ethiopia where my daughter was born, it’s always difficult for me to relate to this. Speaking relatively, every one of those protesters is in the top 10% economically, and I know a lot of Ethiopians who would trade anything to have the opportunities that every American has at their disposal.

But getting past that, I kept hearing the rhetoric about inequality and I had to ask myself: what kind of equality do these protestors seek?

Equal outcomes are impossible. We proved that with the Soviet Union. And trying to ensure equality of outcome drives mediocrity and stagnation in an economy, because not everyone wants to work as hard as everyone else, as is their right.

Equal resources are also impossible. I kept hearing this weekend that Harvard, Princeton and Stanford admit 40% of applicants whose parents were alumni, and 5% who weren’t. So what’s the utopian solution to that? Should we admit everyone to Harvard, or should we admit no one to Harvard?

But I do believe that America is the land of equal opportunity.

At Sierra College, we give students who lack resources free counseling, free assessment, free tutoring, free writing lab, free reading lab, free tuition, free child care and in many cases, free books.

After giving all of that to them, they still don’t quite have “equal resources” to those who drive up in their Mustang convertibles as fifth generation college students.

But they sure do have equal opportunity. They have every chance in the world to succeed if they want to take it.

America is the land of equal opportunity for all. (We can do better, but we’re already better than most.) Not equal resources. Not equal outcomes. Not even equal “ease of the journey.” But yes, an equal chance to make it if you want to work for it.

And now, I’ve got to stop writing and go seize some opportunity. Have a great Monday.