My quote from this weekend: EQUALITY AND CONTEXT De Toqueville on Equality ìNow, I know of only two methods of establishing equality in the political world; rights must be given to every citizen, or none at all to anyoneÖ There is, in fact, a manly and lawful passion for equality that incites men to wish all to be powerful and honored. This passion tends to elevate the humble to the rank of the great; but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom. Not that those nations whose social condition is democratic naturally despise liberty; on the contrary, they have an instinctive love of it. But liberty is not the chief and constant object of their desire; equality is their idol: they make rapid and sudden efforts to obtain liberty and, if they miss their aim, resign themselves to their disappointment; but nothing can satisfy them without equality, and they would rather perish than lose it.î >I read this observation and think of the political debates in America today, 150 years later. It seems we debate two different ideas of equality. On the one hand, equality is defined as being found in the area of opportunity, allowing some to bear fruit of power and others to forsake it. This definition heightens the idea of individual liberty. On the other hand, equality is defined in the area of power, groping for all to stand on equal footing and with equal ownership of voice. This definition heightens the idea of individual rights. >But it also seems to me that the first is a proactive statement about equality and the second can only be reactive. The context makes all the difference for the validity of such a discussion. In a context where people live out service in even a minority of fashion, the fruit of those who successfully grasp each opportunity will find surplus to give. I might call this a Christian context. If this context is taken away, a chasm is created between the ìsuccessfully opportunistic and the unsuccessfulî. A redefinition of equality ensues, marking no one in the light of opportunity toward service, instead only seeing the double-mindedness of equality in society as a fight between the oppressor and the oppressed. >De Toqueville, as a socialist and here it seems, is discussing equality as found in the area of power, but the apostle Paul talks of it in the area of opportunity, if I am reading 2Cornthians 8 correctly. This context makes all the difference. De Toqueville on the Context ìOn the other hand, in a state where the citizens are all practically equal, it becomes difficult for them to preserve their independence against the aggressions of power. No one among them being strong enough to engage in the struggle alone with advantage, nothing but a general combination can protect their libertyÖ The Anglo-Americans are the first nation who, having been exposed to this formidable alternative, have been happy enough to escape the dominion of absolute power. [In praise of the Republic in the 1830s]. They have been allowed by their circumstances, their origin, their intelligence, and especially by their morals to establish and maintain the sovereignty of the people.î