All Men Are Created Equal

The history of civilization is brief. A scientific analysis of artifacts from a cave in South Africa reveals that man were carved bone tools, using pigments, made beads and even used poison 44,000 years ago. And a study of the nearly 2,000 figures of the more than 17,000 year old paintings of the Lascaux Caves in southern France, reveals symbolic dot clusters within figurative images that correlate with the heavenly constellations of Taurus, the Pleiades and the grouping known as the "Summer Triangle". But, if we limit our search to historic times apart from prehistoric times when "records of the past begin to be kept for the benefit of future generations" then we need not look further than 5,000 years ago when city-states arose in the Middle East along the Tigris and Euphrates, in the Indus Valley, and in the river valleys of China.

I say civilization is brief, for, anatomically, modern humans first appeared in the fossil record in Africa about 195,000 years ago.

We have come a long way, slowly. And, it is all the more remarkable to know that America has only been around for less than 300 years.

America is unique in the annals of human history, for it stands for the proposition that "All men are created equal".  This revolutionary idea certainly sounded good to the Founding Fathers, and to Thomas Jefferson, who included the phrase in the Declaration of American Independence.

American, and the ideal of equality, has been built generation by generation. We are a new breed, rooted in all races of the world, colored in all the colors of all the races, with all their varying creeds and beliefs - a sort of ethnic anarchy. I am reminded of this fact every time I take a taxi, driven by someone with an unfamiliar name, or visit a restaurant that offers up dishes from every continent, or walk down the main street America and see and hear someone who is unlike me. We are different, and from our differences we draw our strength. And yet, somehow in time, these differences become less and less, until we realize that we are more alike than we are different.

This fact, that, though different we are the same, comes to me every time I visit a school and watch the children of the many different races learning what it means to be American. It is the same process that countless American generations have gone thorough. And, so far, it has stood us in good stead.

All men, and women, are created equal. America is still working on this ideal.

Left or Right

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Volume Two (1840), Book One, Chapter II.

In the United States, the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their own.

The Old Man would suggest that both political parties attempt to define the debate by definition. Thus, whether one is left or right depends on who is standing next to you.

Pluralism

Pluralism is in its general sense the recognition that life is diverse.

While we might generally agree on politics, economics, and religion, complete unity of belief and action is impossible. Life is simply too complicated to allow for complete agreement on anything.

The value of pluralism is expressed mathematically by John Nash's game theory. Nash observes that an individual's success in making choices depends on the choices of others. Consensus through compromise results in optimal behavior. Compromise results in action. The reverse often produces no action. Legal contract theory implicitly recognizes this value  by noting that a contract is only formed by a willing buyer and seller. Economic and political pluralism tends to create the most efficient means of distributing capital and regulating behavior.



Politics is the process by which groups make collective decisions.  And pluralism is at the heart of modern democracy. A government which permits participation of all its citizens and safeguards the interests of minorities is pluralistic.

The Great Seal of the United States enshrines this concept with the Latin phrase, "E pluribus unum." The idea of  "From many one" is both a recognition of thirteen states forming one union, but also recognition of the diverse religious, ethnic, and political backgrounds of the citizens of this country.James Madison intuitively understood the need for compromise by first noting the need for three equal and balance departments of government. Each department, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial represented a political check on the power of the other two. A further check upon power was created by establishing two houses within the legislative branch. As any first year government student knows laws are not passed without acknowledging the political interests of a majority.

Finally, as a further check upon the power of the majority, the framers of the Constitution recognized certain fundamental rights, most of which are enumerated in the Bill of Rights. These rights can not be infringed upon by the Federal government. Later, in recognition of the abuse of citizens' rights by the States, the Constitution was amended. The Fourteenth Amendment then applied these same constitutional guarantees to citizens of states. This constitutional recognition came slowly and piecemeal through the Supreme Court's review of issues in later years.

Political unity is impossible to achieve, but legislative action can be obtained by political compromise. Negotiation is the method through which compromise is reached and compromise is best achieved by the participation of all political groups. The failure to include groups can result in situations such as Afghanistan where the Taliban refuse to participate. Their recourse is armed conflict.

Of course a government can impose its views on its citizens by coercion.And in North Korea a totalitarian ruler imposes his will upon the people, but the result is politically unstable and economically disastrous. There are other many other examples of non-pluralistic governments. Suffice it to say that history has demonstrated that pluralism as applied to political and economic institutions has proven the most successful.

Walt Whitman would have course endorsed pluralism. The celebrated title of his most famous book and its words express the value of the individual, "I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars." Pluralism recognizes that the whole is equal to or exceeded by the sum of its parts.

Nineteenth and twentieth century political action which expanded rights not only to blacks and women, but later the handicapped and then made equal access to political and economic opportunities mandatory demonstrate our continued recognition as a society that diversity of opportunity contributes to our universal well-being.