Equity. This is a word I’m hearing all the time. In the business/finance sense, equity is a key term meaning the value of an owners’ stake in something. But that’s not what colleges, politicians, HR departments, and activists mean by the word. Equity is a very definite, almost religious term. It means equality of outcomes. That’s it. Very simple. Everybody gets the same outcome, from law, life, and everything. Everybody gets a good grade in school: no one fails. Equality Of Outcome.

                Take schools: everyone gets the adequate grade. The talented, hard-working hard-studying student who wants to be a doctor, and the unmotivated fool who doesn’t care. Or everyone gets the B Minus (used to be “C”, but grade inflation, y’know.) Think I’m kidding? Look at Virginia.

                “Seventeen northern Virginia schools withheld notification of National Merit Scholar awards from students.” 17 Northern Virginia Schools Withheld Merit Awards From Mostly Asian Students As Gov Calls For Legislation | The Daily Caller  “We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements,” he (Student Services director Brandon Kosatka) told her (whistleblowing parent Shawna Yasas) , claiming that he and the principal (Ann Bonitatibus) didn’t want to “hurt” the feelings of students who didn’t get the award.” Top school principal hides student academic awards in name of ‘equity’ (nypost.com) Interestingly, about 75% of the students not notified were “Asian,” of various ethnicities (disparate impact, anyone?) Hold back the hard working to equal the bums? This is Equity.

                Equity is not Equality. Our fundamental principle of “Equality” means we all stand equal in the sight of God. There are no Kings, no peasants, no High and no Low before Him. From there, came the idea of equality before the law. Before that, your status came from birth. But in the new American Republic every citizen from the office of the President right down to me and you, are equal in the law.

                That doesn’t mean we all are “equal.” That’s ridiculous. I’m NOT EQUAL to LeBron James. I’m NOT EQUAL to Steve Jobs or Idina Menzel.  We speak of equality of opportunity. This is a noble goal, and it’s quite imperfect. But the obvious reply is “compared to what?” And Equality, however imperfect, is better than Equity’s enforced levelling. Equity means INequality, and UNfreedom.

                You can say we’re all going to have equality of outcome, but we all know that isn’t so. Everyone can’t live in a Manhattan townhouse, or drive a Porche, or be President of a college. There aren’t enough good things for everyone to have them all at once. So how do we apportion out limited goods? In America, people have the freedom and equal opportunity to choose what to spend their time, their lives, and their money on. It’s imperfect, yeah, but compared to what? But this freedom and legal equality leads to inequality of outcomes. So what instead?

                The alternative is a regime of powerful Bosses, whose job is to hold some back, give goods to others, and regulate everyone in a rough state of equal existence. Sound familiar? It could be a duplicitous high school principal. It could be the Commissars of a People’s Republic. And how do these Bosses apportion out limited goods? We’ve seen it over and over again. They and their pals end up more equal than others, and everyone else stops working hard or runs away.

                “Equity” is at, bottom, about power. It’s about the power of the Equity Boss to decide who gets what. It’s about UNfreedom and INequality, with them as Lords and the rest of us as serfs. Anyone who talks about “Equity” is doing you a big favor: he’s telling you up front that he wants to be Boss.

                It’s a pretty neat trick they’ve pulled off lately, substituting Equity for Equality. Whenever someone starts changing the language on you, pay attention! They’re pulling the old switcheroo, and when you accept their language, you’ve accepted their ideology.

                “Equity” is just the latest attempt by the wanna-be Bosses to clothe the naked tyrant in phony-baloney finery. Don’t be the rube in Times Square, playing 3 Card Monte with a scammer. “Look over there!” No thanks. And all that free stuff everyone’s going to get? Clue: it’s coming from you.

                Whenever you hear the word “Equity” reach for your wallet. Cause rest assured, someone’s already behind you grabbing for it.