How Did John Rawls Reach For Real Equality

Giacomo Borruso
Professor Bailey
PL 210
24 November 2014
Reaching for Real Equality When the founding fathers began to draft their Declaration of Independence, the idea of equality was at the forefront and they clearly stated how “all men are created equal.” Yet, as the years went on and the nation that was founded by dissenters grew, so did their demographics. The United Sates government today is faced with years of racial, gender and class discrimination, and while they government seeks to protect equality, the nation is not egalitarian. Political theorist John Rawls, in his work, The Law of Peoples, discusses the formal, background and redistributive senses of equality and that the outcome of working with the Law of Peoples in a liberal
Rawls writes: “Basic fairness among peoples is given by their being represented equally in the second original position with its veil of ignorance. Thus the representatives of peoples will want to preserve the independence of their own society and its equality in relation to others” (Rawls 115). Where Rawls falls short in his analysis of background equality are the inequalities that were forced amongst groups. Most arguably, the institution of slavery against African Americans is the worst situation in the United States history. Given this background, the injustices of actions for generations and unfavorable views against the African Americans made their transition to freedom anything but just. In the years since, America has made countless concessions to the African American plight and laws to force the integration of races in hopes of natural equality working its way out. Still, years passed and the African Americans could not secure equal opportunities to jobs or education, thus Affirmative Action became the legal norm. Affirmative Action was a forced quota system to secure the African Americans equal representation in the schools and workforce. For years, the nation needed Affirmative Action, but as time went on, Affirmative Action became a crutch that enables the African Americans to aim lower than all other races. In The Economist, and article titled “Time to
Heterosexual couples need to be willing to sacrifice and share their legal protection with homosexual couples. Likewise, the Caucasians and other races have been forced to endure Affirmative Action against them for years and now in hopes of eliminating the discrimination, Affirmative Action should be abolished. Lastly, the wealthy are suffering again for the taxation to support the Affordable Care Act, but if time is given to the program, it may eventually even out. Regardless, all three of these issues show that Rawls ideology is sound, a desire for a true egalitarian community exists and is achievable, but it takes forced discrimination and sacrifices of the currently favored people to make the less favored equal. Society does have the opportunity to become egalitarian, but people are not as willing to give up their benefits as Rawls principles