Equality of Opportunity
George Lloyd
[Part of an address made on radio station WPCH, 27
March.
Reprinted from Land and Freedom, March-April 1929]
One of the most important statements that Herbert Hoover has made is
the need of equality of opportunity. These few words express far more
than appears on the surface. To bring about a condition in which every
inhabitant of the United States would enjoy an equal opportunity as
regards life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, would be one of
the greatest achievements the world has ever known. History does not
record wherein the people of any nation every enjoyed a condition of
equal opportunity. It has been the dream of millions of men, and
although the citizens of the United States enjoy political equality as
regards the franchise of the ballot when it comes to economic
equality, or economic freedom, it is still a mirage that floats before
the eyes of those whose hearts hunger for a condition that is best
expressed in the statement, "equal rights for all and special
privilege to none."
One of the greatest questions that will confront the next President
will be, how to guide the ship of state so that the tremendous changes
that are bound to occur will leave our nation in the supreme position
that it occupies today. If economic freedom is to come to the people
in the next four years through equality of opportunity then it will
spread all over the earth and a new world will be born, and the
economic slavery of today will no longer afflict billions of workers
as it does at present. Let us not deceive ourselves into believing
that we can achieve economic liberty for the toilers of our country in
mill, factory and farm, without a wonderful change for the better, but
are the beneficiaries of the present thieving system going to stand by
and watch the workers come into their own with out protesting as
strongly as possible against any chang that would abolish the special
privileges they enjoy There is no doubt the day of special privilege
is drawing to an end. All over the world the workers are asking the
question, why is it that those who produce do not possess the things
they produce while those who possess do not produce? Surely the
beneficiaries of the present unjust system grasp the full significance
of the phrase "equal opportunity, for it implies Justice and from
Justice flows all blessings."
God still watches over the destinies of the people of the United
States. This is exemplified in the heart and mind of our next
President. He loves humanity; the highest expression of love is
service, and he has nobly served millions of people abroad when famine
and death confronted them. Another expression of his is American
Individualism. That is the pioneering spirit that has made the United
States what it is today. The initiative and the inventive powers of
the people have carried the nation to the supreme position that it
occupies today. He calls our attention to five or six social
philosophies that are at struggle in the world for ascendency. There
is the individualism of America and the individualism of the more
democratic states of Europe, and there are Communism, Socialism,
Syndicalism, Capitalism or finally Autocracy. How indeed shall the
age-long struggle of humanity for liberty be brought about in spite of
the warring philosophies?
Socialism That the machinery of production and distribution shall be
community-owned and democratically administered. Communism From you
according to your ability and to you according to your needs.
Syndicalism Control of Industry through industrial unionism. Anarchism
Individual liberty with no check by the state on Capitalism, the
result of Landlordism.
Through all that welter of chaos, economic illiteracy and racing up
blind alleys comes the greatest of Americans, Henry George, and shows
in his immortal work, "Progress and Poverty," the straight
and narrow path to economic freedom as no other human being has done.
He pictures the cause and remedy for poverty and the soul-destroying
fear of poverty and unemployment, slums and war. Already the victims
of the evil begin to glimpse the light from his torch of liberty. They
are taking heart of hope and beginning to ask why are the producers of
all wealth constantly burdened with the fear of poverty from youth to
old age?
What is the cause of poverty in a world of plenty? Men are turning to
Henry George and finding the answer and the remedy for their slavery
and fears. The problem of the production of wealth has been solved,
but the problem of the just distribution of wealth has not been solved
and that is the greatest problem that will confront the coming
administration, and until it is solved there will be no such thing as
equality of opportunity for the people of the United States. How then
can we bring about a condition in which every one will enjoy equal
opportunity as regards life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? To
attain the above mentioned condition in which all the wealth produced
by the workers shall be the property of the workers, and none shall
reap where they have not sown is the goal of humanity.
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