There is an assumption widely-held in the West that liberty, or political
freedom, requires equality --- that liberty presupposes equality, and
cannot exist without equality as a precondition. I.e., that there is some
kind of logical relationship between liberty and equality.

A variant of this assumption is that liberty and equality, though not
logically related, are correlative values which mutually constrain each
other, or are competing values which must both be satisfied in some manner.
I.e., an ideal polity is one in which these two values are balanced in some
way.

But let's define terms: "Political liberty" means a regime in which each
person is free to deploy his own resources in accordance with his own best
judgment in pursuit of his own interests, without interference from others,
subject only to the constraint that in so acting, he does not violate
anyone else's similar liberty.

On Apr 3, 6:19 pm, Publius nospam.comcast.net> wrote:

Many philosophy books I have read portray liberty and equality as far
poles at the end of a gradient or range of degrees. The liberty, in
economics, political authority, and other social power realities, is
"inversely proportional" to the degree of equality.

If I drive above the speed limit & it is shown that speeders kill
other drivers then a little equality is required to limit the degree
of this freedom.

On Apr 4, 4:19 am, Publius nospam.comcast.net> wrote:

On Tue, 03 Apr 2007 20:19:23 -0500, Publius wrote:

Let's define it this way instead: Equality before the law and equality in
government influence.

From here, let all other chips fall as they may.

We have been more or less conditioned to equate a term like 'equality'
with an economic system so to make all else relative to that system. What
makes more sense, and seems more just, is to see the economic system, any
system, as temporary and subjugated to the times and the resources of the
times.

So in the excellent banana example... If a consolidation in banana
ownership causes hardship to most others, then those others can influence
government in their favor. After this is done, people have to live with
the resulting government interference. They then will be able to determine
if this had a lasting benefit. The goal here is the experiential learning
process of the entire group. So it might be that other modifications are
made.

Biologically we are the same species or equally human. Economically we
are not equal. If the punishment for violating a law is the same fine
for everybody then the rich have less of an incentive to obey the law
than the poor. This is apparent in the American legal system where
access to legal representation is dependent on economic factors and
addressed by punitive damages.