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Fallacies Of Economic Equality That Promote Poverty

From Peter Ferrara:

“The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal.  They weren’t only equal before God and the law.  They were equal every which way.  Nobody was smarter than anybody else.  Nobody was better looking than anybody else.  Nobody was stronger or quicker than anybody else.  All this equality was due to the 211th, 212th and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General.”

So began Kurt Vonnegut’s 1961 short story “Harrison Bergeron,” published in the volume Welcome to the Monkey House.  In that brave, new world, the government forced each individual to wear “handicaps” to offset any advantage they had, so that everyone could be truly and fully equal.  Beautiful people had to wear ugly masks to hide their good looks.  The strong had to wear compensating weights to slow them down.  Graceful dancers were burdened with bags of birdshot.  Those with above average intelligence had to wear government transmitters in their ears that would emit sharp noises every 20 seconds, shattering their thoughts “to keep them… from taking unfair advantage of their brains.”

KEEP READING.