Equal opportunity?

One of the great myths of American life is that we all have an equal opportunity to succeed in life.  Professor John Schaar has pointed out how hollow this idea really is.  Suppose you set up a 100 meter dash.  There are five contestants.  All five will run 100 meters.  All will start at the same time.  All will have similar running shoes.  Four of the five are average guys with high blood pressure and no training.  The fifth is an Olympic gold medalist in the 100 meter dash.

Theoretically all have an equal opportunity to win.  In reality, we don’t even need to run the race.

Rich kids in this society have a head start in the race for success.  They have good health care, live in good neighborhoods, go to good schools, have tutors if they are having problems, can afford prep schools, can afford Yale or Stanford, will have connections upon graduation.

Yesterday the House passed a repeal of the Estate Tax, which Republicans like to call the Death Tax.  I don’t care what you call it, it is a small step to try to at least limit an inherited aristocracy.  Republicans in the House see nothing wrong with that, of course.  They don’t watch “Downton Abbey” for the costumes, they watch it for a model of how life should be.

I don’t think this legislation will pass the Senate, and if it does, I hope the President will veto it.  It is just one more illustration of the type of people Republican congress members represent.