Equality in Democracy
Equality, the word which describes equalness and impartialness, has
various forms such equality of status, gender equality, equal chances and
opportunities for all, equal freedom etc. But Equality in Democracy has slightly
broader and complex aspect. There are various questions regarding this,
“What is role of equality in democracy? Why equality exist in democracy? and
What kind of equality is suitable or relatively more perfect in democracy?” and
answer to these questions try to give overview of Equality in Democracy.
Equality changes his role according to situations and constraints, to
understand this let us consider a situation, suppose there is a firstsoul, it is
something which created world and following three men, and three men
namely A, B and C. A owns two mango trees, B owns a mango tree and C owns
none. Now the situation is each mango tree yields 1 carat of mangoes every
year and firstsoul needs to divide 3 carats of mangoes ever year, which are
created by firstsoul, among three men with equality and method used should
be same every year.
In the above situation equality can be shown in two ways, one way is
dividing three carats equally among three men which means one carat each to
A, B and C which implies that at every year A will have total 3 carats of
mangoes 1 given by firstsoul and 2 carats harvested from trees, similarly B will
have 2 carats 1 from tree and 1 from firstsoul and C will have only 1 carat from
firstsoul and second way is giving C two carats and one carat to B and no carat
to A which implies every year each of them will have 2 carats.
Going only by the definition of equality in above situation first way seems
more correct and practical as equality signifies equal distribution and that’s
what happening in first situation, but it is dividing the society in three classes
one with three carats, one with 2 carats and one with 1 carat. In that sense
second way seems more ethical as each will have same quantity every year,
but that ethicality depends on only current conditions, if I add some
constraints to situation then way of choosing will change again.
Now I will add a constraint such as the climate may be different every year
which can affect the yield of mangoes from trees, suppose there were no
harvest of mangoes one year and we have already gone with second way then
at that A will not have any carat of mango, B will have only one and C will have
two carats. Now thinking through this perspective, first way seems more
logical and ethical as each of them will have at least one carat of mango every
year. See how our choice of equality changed from only one constraint.
Now I will remove the previous constraint and will add another constraint
such as every man requires 2 carats of mangoes to survive every year, in that
situation if we choose first way C will have only one carat and he will need to
buy remaining one from A which will increase debt on C every year, in that
sense second way seems better, again our perspective changed by one
constraint.
Similarly adding constraint will change perspectives and type of equality we
choose. Equality in Democracy is even harder than our situation as a
Democracy must work with all these constraints simultaneously which makes it
complex process. Role of equality in democracy changes from time to time and
condition to condition, Equality in Democracy can never be same in long term,
it is needed to be examined and changed periodically in favor of people as
Democracy is of the people, by the people, for the people. Equality should
always be in favor of majority of people. That’s when we call Equality in
Democracy.