The American experiment is premised on the beautiful, radical, ultimately illusory proposition that all people are created equal. In reality, people are inherently unequal; even more, research suggests there are genetic markers for qualities as far-reaching as will power and discipline that severely limit the ability of people to improve their lot.
This seeming contradiction at the heart of the American ideal (and the ideals of liberal democracies worldwide) presents us with an immense challenge: despite the inequalities that we inherit by chance at birth, how much can and should society do to move toward greater equality, both in terms of opportunity and outcomes? It’s a question that has bedeviled presidents throughout our history, and it’s particularly poignant at this moment when we have a president as committed to change as Barack Hussein Obama. It doesn’t help that the current financial crisis is only exacerbating inequalities, and making it even harder to address the mess we are in.
Here are some thoughts on this question, a mixture of Obama’s and my own:
1. Greatly expand early childhood education (starting from pre-natal)
An increasing body of research says that the years from conception to the age of four or five are the time when the most intense and rapid cognitive development takes place; this means that a child’s capacity to learn and grow is largely determined before they ever enter kindergarten.
Some amazing programs, such as the Harlem Children’s Zone, have caught the attention of top educational researchers and Obama as well. These programs focus on the crucial early years in a child’s development. Obama has stated that he hopes to fund 20 such zones around the country. In terms of results per-dollar, programs like this are one of the best investments a country can make, with returns orders of magnitude greater than for many other types of social investments.
2. Lift the ban on embryonic stem cell research and increase federal funding for medical research
Innovations in health technology have the potential to diminish and even eliminate the genetic inequality that some of us inherit. If we can find cures for crippling diseases, we can help not only those people but others as well. We may be able to determine the genetic precursors to various diseases, screen for them at the earliest possible time, devise interventions, and perhaps even eliminate them from the human gene pool.
3. Create a culture of responsibility and accountability
Even though our genetic inheritance can dramatically shape our destiny, genes are far from a 100 percent determining factor. While we may not have as much agency or free will as once believed, we can create environments that nurture certain behaviors over others.
Obama had this in mind when he pledged to create a government that was more transparent and accountable, and an America in which people take greater responsibility for their actions and the impact of those actions on others. Already, he has signed into law paradigm-shifting ethics and transparency rules whose full impact we will only experience as the Obama Administration unfolds.
4. Elevate science to its rightful place
The Republican “war on science” has been one of the most damaging legacies of the Bush years. Not only did Bush substitute ideology for facts, many times he injected religious dogma into the process as well.
Restoring scientific inquiry and empiricism to its rightful place is central to Obama’s mission, and he is clearly intent on carrying this out. This will have particular relevance in issues such as environmental standards, healthcare and education policy, all of which touch directly on people’s lives.
5. Draw sharper lines between abhorrent criminals and non-violent offenders
One of the tragedies of the American justice system is how often criminals such as murderers, rapists, and pedophiles are lumped together in jails with non-violent offenders such as drug users (who sometimes receive harsher sentences). This is unfair, inefficient, and often creates worse criminals as well.
There are clearly people whose past and potential actions require that they be locked up. At the same time, our jails are full of individuals whose real problems are addiction and mental illness, not an inclination to criminal behavior. I hope that President Obama can shift the terms of the debate so that the latter group receives more treatment and preventative resources, and is isolated from the hardened criminals who truly deserve incarceration.
Summing up, it will never be true that people are created equal. But the great beauty of America is our attempt to forge a “more perfect union” in which we move ever closer to this ideal.
Jason Scorse