ANALYSIS – The term ‘equity’ has seeped into every aspect of U.S. domestic, and even foreign, policy. We hear the term everywhere.
Most recently VP Kamala Harris used it to describe how hurricane relief funds should be distributed in Florida based in part on skin color, and ‘communities of color’ should receive priority.
This outrageous claim from Harris provoked a backlash from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, many conservatives, and others.
On his first day as president, Joe Biden also issued an “Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities.”
This made promoting ‘equity’ a centerpiece of his administration – a highly damaging proposition.
But to many Americans it’s a totally innocuous term, which sounds a lot like equal or equality.
And aren’t Americans supposed to be ‘equal under the law?’
So, what is the big fuss?
Well, the fact is the term ‘equity’ is just the latest effort in a long line of leftist code words intended to mask their true intent.
Equity is not only not similar to equality; it is the polar opposite. It is an evil code word for socialism.
It means ignoring individuals and favoring some groups over others.
The ultimate goal of ‘equity’ is not to ensure equal opportunities, it is to achieve equal outcomes.
That is just a new brand name for the oldest program of social and economic leveling ever invented – socialism.
Harris admitted as much in a tweet and video, posted before the election and viewed well over 6 million times: “There’s a big difference between equality and equity.”
But the left tends to not highlight the true impact of this huge difference.
Instead, they argue that some people simply need a hand to help them reach the same level playing field.
However, promoting “equity” means ending America’s traditional guiding ideal of “equal treatment under law.”
It enshrines reverse discrimination as policy.
It is a mandate to discriminate based on skin color, economic standing, or other standards such as gender identification.
And it is undermining America’s bedrock principle that people should be treated equally and judged as individuals, not as members of groups.
As Charles Lipson wrote in “Equity” is Socialism by Another Name” in the Wall Street Journal last year:
Those who push for equity have hidden these crucial differences for a reason. They aren’t merely unpopular; they challenge America’s bedrock principle that people should be treated equally and judged as individuals, not as members of groups.
He adds:
Hidden, too, are the extensive measures that would be needed to achieve equal outcomes. Only a powerful central government could impose the intensive—and expensive—programs of social intervention, ideological re-education and economic redistribution. Only an intrusive bureaucracy could specify the rules for every business, public institution and civic organization. Those unhappy implications are why advocates of equity are so determined to hide what the term really means.
Lipson, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Chicago, who founded the Program on International Politics, Economics, and Security, continues:
One measure of how unpopular these unequal programs are is how often their proponents need to rename them. “Quotas” were restyled as “affirmative action.” The goal was still to give special benefits to some groups to achieve desired outcomes. Now “affirmative action” has also become toxic, rejected most recently by voters in deep-blue California. Hence, the new name, “equity.”
Instead of making their case openly and honestly, advocates of equity twist and turn to avoid revealing their radical goal of re-engineering society through coercion.
This is the ultimate goal of the left – using the term ‘equity’ to mask a coercive socialist agenda intended to ‘fundamentally transform’ American society – to quote Barack Obama in 2008.
Americans must challenge the concept and the term at every turn. We believe in equality not ‘equity.’ And we must fight to defend it.
Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.
