Experience shows that
unmitigated equality results in atrophy, corruption and stagnation.
Thermodynamics teaches us that life and motion are engendered by an
irregular distribution of energy. Entropy - an even distribution of
energy - equals death and stasis.
What about the disadvantaged and challenged - the mentally retarded,
the mentally insane, the paralyzed, the chronically ill? For that
matter, what about the less talented, less skilled, less daring?
Dworkin (1981) proposed a compensation scheme. He suggested a model of
fair distribution in which every person is given the same purchasing
power and uses it to bid, in a fair auction, for resources that best
fit that person's life plan, goals and preferences.
Having thus acquired these resources, we are then permitted to use them
as we see fit. Obviously, we end up with disparate economic results.
But we cannot complain - we were given the same purchasing power and
the freedom to bid for a bundle of our choice.
Dworkin assumes that prior to the hypothetical auction, people are
unaware of their own natural endowments but are willing and able to
insure against being naturally disadvantaged. Their payments create an
insurance pool to compensate the less fortunate for their misfortune.
Pages:
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134