UPDATED: Paradox For The Day - With Bonus Paradox!
Catching up on Twitter. Nice to see a WH reporter reading serious authors :
"Some call it a paradox of equality: the more equality one wants to introduce, the more power one must have; the more power one has, the more one violates the principle of equality..."
— Emerald Robinson ✝️ (@EmeraldRobinson) March 6, 2021
But does this suggest a problem at the heart of Classical Liberalism with it's talk of "equality". As previously discussed, "equality" makes sense in a universe based on a realist philosophy that upholds objective knowledge of an objective human nature created by God. However, in the ideology of tolerant diversity of views such objective knowledge is excluded. In a society that embraces that ideology "equality" then takes on a dissolvent quality with regard to all societal standards and institutions. We've been on a slippery slope for a long time and we're seeing the results.
Bonus paradox:
“The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.” -P.J. O'Rourke
— Emerald Robinson ✝️ (@EmeraldRobinson) March 6, 2021
UPDATE: To expand just a bit. When a society and its government sees the imposition of "equality"--which is a condition that simply does not and never will exist within the human race--as a legitimate and desirable goal of government, the logical outcome is tyranny to one degree or another. It is driven by an anti-realist ideology, an effort to impose an concept upon the recalcitrant reality of actual human nature and human beings. We have seen the evolution in that direction everywhere Classical Liberalism has been adopted. That's the thought behind what Legutko is saying and its the thought that also makes sense of O'Rourke's witticism. That is NOT to say that some other form of government is perfect--perfection is not attainable in a necessarily imperfect world. But a government and society based on an ideology that is in principle opposed to the order of creation and of nature is headed for big trouble. Limited government in such an ideological environment will never remain limited, will never be content to leave individuals alone to rise or fall to their own level of human thriving. This is why the whole dynamic in American history is the movement from Liberal Democracy to Progressive forms of tyranny.
On the other hand, a society and its government that is grounded in a realist philosophy of objective human nature is readily able--at least on principle--to address problems of fairness and justice among its citizens and institutions in ways that take into account individual differences. This doesn't guarantee outcomes that are fair and just, but it does allow for rational discussion of what is good or bad for human nature and for individual humans, without proposed policies for attaining human happiness being forced to conform to the artificial mold of "equality."