• In cases when the government does create programs that aim to give more opportunities to the disadvantaged, these programs ought to be rigorously evaluated to see whether they actually deliver on their promises. Government programs have failed more often than not. “Though almost any reasonable-sounding program will probably work under some conditions,” one expert writes, “most fail most of the time. The burden of proof should always be on those who claim that some new program is worth the investment.”

We should always be very cautious of being seduced by the promise of sameness of opportunity. To do so would not only obliterate any limits upon the role of government, but also lead inevitably to calls that the opportunities of others be curtailed. Indeed, it is easy to see how equality of opportunity, when taken to this extreme, can become “a thoroughly nasty and totalitarian concept.”

As there are great natural differences in aptitude, talent, and strength, which are in turn attenuated or accentuated by happenstance, so too are there different vocations, occupations, and professions in which some excel while others just muddle along

In the short story Harrison Bergeron, Kurt Vonnegut vividly describes a dystopian future in which those of above-average strength, intelligence, and beauty are artificially handicapped to prevent them from “taking unfair advantage” of their natural endowments. Lees verder →