“One vision sees social problems as emerging from basic human constraints. Scarcity is real. People are naturally selfish. Knowledge is limited and dispersed. We can’t change these facts, only build institutions that work with them.
The other vision sees problems as failures of will or wisdom. With the right leaders, the right education, the right system, we could solve these problems. Human nature isn’t fixed. It’s waiting to be improved. “
One item that Sowell (who I like a lot) left out from his list of things that cause societal friction is “people are different” - they have different abilities, talents desires, etc.
But there is a large strain of people in any society that believes everyone is equal and therefore they should succeed equally, and if they don’t somebody is keeping them down.
This desire for “equality” by large portions of society juxtaposited against the obvious reality that people are not equal and are not capable of equal success is one of the most constant problem of any society.
Kurt Vonnegut wrote a great short story depicting the unavoidable conclusion of such thinking.
“Harrison Bergeron”
“The year was 2081 and everyone was finally equal!”
https://americanliterature.com/author/kurt-vonnegut-jr/short-story/harrison-bergeron/
The concept of equality when applied to people raises the question as to what characteristics apply under the concept. I would wager very few.
“Created equal” under the Declaration seems invoke that with which are all endowed apart from any effort on their part: the unalienables. Everything else is a mess that necessitates legal code. For citizens of the USA that code derives from the six objectives stated in the Preamble.
I have spoken with dozens of public officials over the past months and it become all too clear that they need assistance in articulating the core purpose of their offices as related to the same.