Equality vs. liberty?

pp. 36-51

in: Howard P. Kainz, Democracy East and West, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1984

Abstract

If we were asked to generalise on the various ideas and movements we have just discussed under the rubric of "equality", we would have to say that they represent a concerted and persistent thrust, violent or gradual, towards the dissolution of whatever are considered to be the more egregious class distinctions, and a concomitant and apparently inseparable effort to socially orchestrate a broader distribution of material possessions. The simultaneous (and sometimes coterminous or collocated) movements toward liberty, on the other hand, march to the sound of a different drummer. Like Hobbes they may define liberty as the right to preserve one's own nature and do what they want without unnecessary obstacles, or like Locke they may add the stipulation that what they want to do should be in accord with the laws of nature or morality, or like Mill they may stipulate that others not be harmed. But the emphasis is generally on a lack of restriction in doing what one wants or considers to be right.