Human equality as understood by America’s Founders—equality under the rule of law—is vastly different from the conception of equality that underlies today’s government entitlement programs. The U.S. fiscal crisis reflects the flaws of contemporary egalitarianism and cannot be resolved without a return to our former understanding of equality.

James R. Harrigan is senior fellow of the Institute of Political Economy at Utah State University and senior research fellow at Strata Policy in Logan, Utah.
Ryan M. Yonk is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Senior Research Faculty at the American Institute for Economic Research.
Economic InequalityEconomic PolicyEconomyGovernment and PoliticsGovernment PowerLaw and LibertyPolitical Theory
Other Independent Review articles by Ryan M. Yonk
Winter 2010/11 Bootleggers, Baptists, and Political Entrepreneurs: Key Players in the Rational Game and Morality Play of Regulatory Politics