Equality and Meritocracy
Updated: Jun 25
The only equality that I think exists in an honest democracy is the equality of rights and of law. In the field of law, this is the only equality that should, in my opinion, disable the individuality of the masses. And as such, a honest democracy is a meritocracy.
If the law viewed and treated people in accordance to their different capacities and personalities, an autocracy of some sort would eventually be created, because those with the favored capacities and personalities would be far more privileged and protected by the law than those who have low or disliked capacities and personalities.
This is illogical to do so in an honest democracy, because the law should not judge people in accordance to their individuality. Such a judgment would quickly create a biased preference based on something that should not play a significant role when judging people and deciding their verdict.
For example, why would a highly-talented, professional pianist serve 1 year in prison for the same crime as a poor man with no significant talents, who serves 5 years in prison? This is where meritocracy needs to be limited, simply because of this logical fallacy.
However, I agree that freedom contradicts equality, at least any equality that is not the equality of opportunity and the equality of the law. Equality of opportunity is also a good example of how freedom is limited for the sake of the disadvantaged, whether by their race, by their financial status, by a disability, and so forth.
This is because all of these things I mentioned have no necessary impact on performance, as even the disabled can be extremely talented and extremely competent.
All in all, freedom is a contradiction of equality because equality says that we are all the same, while freedom allows us to be different people with different beliefs and talents.
This is why communism can make a country very poor. By giving people the exact money they need to exist as living beings and nothing more, the country automatically loses a lot of money from people with great potential to financially benefit their country.
This is why saying that we are all the same in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of opportunity is good only for these aspects, but potentially horrible in any other aspect of life. This is where I, as an individualist, draw the line of my individualist beliefs.
