Equality and Democracy.

• Author: Rothschild, Matthew
• Position: Review

Equality is the great unfinished task of our democracy. The Declaration of Independence says "all men are created equal," and Lincoln at Gettysburg said we are dedicated to that proposition of equality.

Yet we've lost that dedication somewhere along the line. Outright discrimination plus gross disparities in income, wealth, education, housing, health care, and access to political power all mock this proposition of our founders.

But what do we mean by equality, and what kind of equality is most desirable? In an elegant and urgent work of political and philosophical argumentation, Philip Green clears the way for making our case in Equality and Democracy (New Press, 1998). Green pleads for "strong equal opportunity" and against "surplus inequalities."

He starts by imagining 100 people landing on a new planet and trying to figure out the best way to divvy up the work and allocate the rewards.

"Our shipload of discoverers does not contain persons who are any more desperate for a job than anyone else around them," he writes. "Suppose, then, one of this group were to say to the others: `I have a good idea. Why don't the rest of you all go to work for me producing the means of our sustenance? I'll take responsibility for organizing the work process, and in return take a uniquely large proportion of all the goods we produce for myself and my family and heirs.' We can be pretty certain that without some further explanation as to why this very strange social arrangement should be instituted, ninety-nine voices would instantly shout out, `Excuse me?'"

Instead of our current division of labor and its lopsided reward structure, Green reasons...