In Defense of Inequality

Tom Sheppard

4/6/2017

Currently, there is an escalating discussion about equality in the US.  The Equal Rights Amendment is getting resurrected and there is a lot of talk about equality between the sexes.

I for one, am not in favor of equality.  To be clear, I am totally in favor of women getting equal pay for an equal job.  So, my umbrage with the equality movement is not about pay checks.  Rather, my problem with equality is with two things: One, is the fact that people, and genders are not equal.  Two, equal rights before the law are already ensconced in our statutes and regulations, both federal and state.

I don't plan to belabor the second point, although for those who advocate some additional statute promoting equality I say, "enough."  We don't need any more laws or statutes.  We need diligent enforcement of the laws we have.

My primary objection to the equality movement is because it is fundamentally in conflict with natural law and reality. 

Mathematically, equality is about interchangeability.  If A = B, then it doesn't matter if you need A or B, either will serve equally well.  However, human beings are not mathematical ciphers, and we are anything but equal and interchangeable.

If humans were all equal, we would all have the same height, weight, hair color, skin color, intelligence, and abilities.  Anyone who has ever considered the accomplishments of Olympic and professional athletes and compared their own abilities against that standard knows, those Olympians and professional athletes are not our equals in terms of their speed, their strength and their agility.  If they were all equal, we wouldn't have any Olmpics, because all the athletes would run equally fast, lift equal amounts, and perform equally well.

Having so simply demolished the ridiculous assertion that we are all equal, and showing that it is simple common sense, that makes me ask, "what then is the equality movement all about?"

I conclude that the equality movement is either about equal outcomes or about an effort to, in spite of natural law, make men and women interchangeable.

Anyone who has ever witnessed the birth of a child knows without any doubt that men and women are not interchangeable.

I hope the equality movement is not about trying to make men and women interchangeable.  The pernicious legalisms and unexpected and debasing outcomes that would result from an effort to make men and women legally interchangeable before the law would warp our society in ways that are almost unimaginable.

So, that leaves us with the drive for equality of outcomes.  The driving force behind the movement for equality of outcomes is envy.  Equality of outcomes is the idea that no matter whether we do lousy work or excellent work, we should be paid the same.  Whether we are smart or stupid we get the same grades in school.

Equality of outcomes is the envy of the lazy for the fruits of labor of those who are industrious.

I believe that discrimination against anyone because of their gender is wrong. It is also already illegal.  We don't need a constitutional amendment to protect the legal rights of women against discrimination.  And, not only don't we need it, the probability that such an amendment would be used to push for the legal interchangeability of men and women is certain.

Today, there is a lot of commotion about who uses which bathroom.  If the ERA becomes law, everyone will be using the same bathrooms and showers.  

You may think I am wrong on this.  However, if men and women are determined to be legally interchangeable, then they don't need separate bathing facilities in our schools or anywhere else.  In fact, the maintenance of separate facilities would be unconstitutional.

Tom Sheppard is the author of Godvernment: Government as God.