Green Liberty

What are the Libertarian Principles?

How Do They Intersect?

Green Goal #3: Social Justice and Equal Opportunity

The idea of equal opportunity is deeply rooted in American culture, and the U.S. can claim many victories in the fight against discrimination based on stereotypes, race, gender, and the like. In the U.S., we are raised to believe that our country is a great "melting pot" of many cultures. For 114 years, the Statue of Liberty has stood as an invitation to the the tired, the poor, and even the "wretched refuse" from around the world. Anyone is supposed to be welcome in America, as long as they "yearn to breathe free."

Despite this proud tradition of multiculturalism, there are many who feel disadvantaged or victimized, due to the "minority" status of their race, gender, or lifestyle. In addition, the divisions and resentment between classes, age groups, and other "clashing" factions continue to grow, in spite of decades of efforts to address these divides through legislation and lawsuits. Why do these divides continue to grow, even as our efforts to heal them increase in intensity?

Government Should Not Play Favorites

Libertarians believe that real social justice and equal opportunity continue to escape us because our system of laws is filled with instances of discrimination. We believe that law should not play favorites, and that every person should be seen as truly equal in the eyes of the Government. No one should be advantaged or disadvantaged by the law, based on any personal characteristics whatsoever. 

Our Legacy of Discrimination

In America, we have recognized that discriminatory laws have caused significant suffering for many minorities. Embedded within our pride of multiculturalism is a deep sense of shame for the wrongs that have been committed against minorities of every stripe. The slaughter and containment of the Native Americans, the enslavement and segregation of African Americans, the many anti-immigrant laws, and the legal and social degradation of women are but a few of the stains on our national past. 

It is right and proper to work to eliminate instances of discrimination from our law books. Justice is supposed to be blind, and law should not discriminate. In no instance should government force be used against one type of person, or in favor of another. 

As an extension of this, those in private life should not be required to adopt standards and quotas based on law. Respecting the individual's freedom of association is essential to justice and equality. People should not be forced to associate with others based on race or other criteria, any more than they should be forced to not associate with them.

Persuasion and Reason - Not Law

The most effective way to change people's minds is through persuasion and reason, and through personal experience. Racism, class warfare, and other divides cannot be healed through the use of law. Indeed, laws forcing one person to treat another a certain way are more likely to foster resentment than healing. Of course, anyone who initiates force against another should be prosecuted, but it's not fair or right to tell people who they must talk to, or hire, or interact with in any way. 

In depriving people of freedom of association and thought, policies such as Affirmative Action, hiring quotas, and "hate crime" laws have the effect of sharpening the lines which divide our nation. Many people who those laws would "force to be tolerant" actually grow stronger in their resentment of others unlike them, because they feel as if those others are responsible for making them the target of prosecution. And instead of making the "minority" group equal, these laws have the effect of stigmatizing minorities as weak or disadvantaged, in that it seems to show that they need governmental favoritism to be considered equal.

Equal- but not the same

All humans are created equal, but they are not all the same. While it is natural and normal for us as individuals to develop preferences as to who we associate with, it is not proper or even practical for Government to enforce law based on those distinctions. 

As individuals in a free mind-marketplace, we are able to overcome the barriers of discrimination through the healthy methods of conversation, persuasion, organization, protest, boycott, and the like. In that open marketplace of the mind, it is possible that one day, all will realize that each person is unique in ways that can't be determined by race, gender, age, or any other visible criteria. But when laws are written which codify the differences between us as a legal distinction, and we are forced to associate, hire, or work based on those differences, those otherwise artificial distinctions are given legal authority. 

How can one come to believe black people are equal to whites, when a hiring quota forces the hiring of a less-qualified black over a more-qualified white? How can one believe that the elderly are equal to the young, when federal benefits are heaped upon people when they reach a certain age? How can we expect that hatred could be eliminated by making it illegal, giving those who hate one more thing to hold against the target of their hate?

We all know from personal experience that if you pressure someone too hard to change their mind before they are ready, they will react with defensiveness, often strengthening their resolve, in the face of what they perceive as a threat to their way of thinking. People change their minds on their own time, and the best anyone can do is provide examples and persuasion that provide others with what they need to come around to more tolerant viewpoints. Efforts to force others to accept viewpoints they don't really believe only serve to further the rancor and divide over the issue, and to continue our world's long history of discrimination.

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