The right to property is the right for a person to keep in one’s possession a certain object. For said object, this right immediately reduces the rights of all other humans by a factor of one object that they could otherwise use, potentially use up completely. If you own something, then you own it to the exclusion of someone else, or there would be little point in making the claim that you own it. If I own something, yet others may freely take it from me, then I can’t be said to own that object. So ownership has two sides: it gives rights to the owner and takes rights away from everyone else.

Image by: Brianhe, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Why does it matter whether or not we have an equitable society?

This may seem a strange question. We have already pointed out that an equitable society would require putting pressures in place that pull people away from our innate need for hierarchal deference. That will require significant work. If we’re to undertake that work, we should be certain that the effort we put in produces an improvement worth the effort. To explore this, let’s look at the social benefits offered by unequal societies first, by examining several aspects of inequality from our past.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.

From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Throughout human history, violence has plagued mankind, farther back than I care to write about here. Starting from the ancient Egyptian nomarchs through the magnates in post-Domesday England, humans have struggled to exert control over other humans. Human-against-human violence has been a common result.

Note: This piece was written (not published) just after the Buffalo shooting. It’s sad how relevant it still is today.

On May 14th, 2022, a gunman traveled for hours to the small, friendly city of Buffalo, New York. The script writes itself at this point. He opened fire on people from a marginalized community and killed a bunch of your fellow Americans. Somehow brought in alive by the police.

You’ll read a lot these days about the various “ism” forms of government. The narrative from the right is that the left are leading us on the path toward socialism or sometimes marxism, as opposed to supporting our beloved capitalism. The narrative from the left is that the right are leading us into fascism. So for a moment, we thought we’d take a look at these various “-isms” and see what’s true and what’s not about these claims. I guess first, we should point out what these different -isms are…

Do you know what would be great? If those lazy poor people would stop being poor. When I was a younger man, I briefly flirted with the idea of Libertarianism. By “briefly flirted,” I mean I became a card-carrying member. I began reading up on Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand that is the foundation of Neo-liberalism and is influential in Libertarian thinking. Oh, it’s seductive. In Objectivism, everything is transactional. Every good deed requires a mutually beneficial exchange. In Objectivism, you are free to hate poor people because they don’t work hard enough in a society where everything is possible.

What changed the mind of my younger Software Engineering self?

Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sorry_we_are_closed_sign.jpg

What does it mean to be an equitable society? Why do all of our attempts at building an equitable society begin from the same perspective? Is there a better world out there that we can begin to see forming and — as importantly — can we get there from here?

Follow along as Chuck begins to lay down the arguments for an equitable society. Happy fourth of July! And may this year bring us closer to the vision!