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The Argument for Equality
Ever since the origin of democracy with the ancient Greeks, the philosophical principle of equal rights has been at the forefront of political discussion and debate. Freedom and justice have been held as two of the highest, yet most elusive ideals that a society can strive towards. In George Orwell’s satire on totalitarianism, Animal Farm, Squealer the despotic pig states, “all animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Though the novel was meant to bring to light the ills of a tyrannical society, this single phrase also encompasses the flaws of any well-intentioned form of government. In attempting to compromise the rights of his subordinates with his own lust for power and possession, he sheds light on the fact that government is only a human enterprise and therefore destined to occasionally falter or even fail. Unfortunately, since the ideal of a utopia doesn’t exist, there are the citizens of a nation, and then there are the citizens of that nation who are “more equal,” or have better rights and more freedoms such as suffrage and equality that the rest of the populace can only dream of.
Separated by millennia of human experience, Socrates and Marin Luther King Jr. were each men who realized that their respective nations were tantalizingly close to reaching the ideal of a truly great society, but were hindered by but a few glaring disparities. These were men who accepted their government with its strengths and its flaws and were proactive enough to instigate powerful and meaningful change. They each attempted to correct the system in which they lived, wishing not to completely redirect its path but to alter its direction towards the narrow lane of righteousness and just action.
As is evident in the Apology, Socrates believes that for a government to properly function and provide for the basic freedoms of its citizens, it is necessary to constantly question the status quo. In his...