Late last night, I was talking about politics to my friend James. He also has cerebral palsy, but we seem to take very different political stances. I was trying to explain my political thinking, and why I think as I do, only I don’t think I was succeeding. Perhaps I should explain it here, in a nutshell.

I believe that we are all equal. Not equal in the sense of we all have the same abilities, but we all havee the same potential and worth. At the point that we are born, any baby can go as far as any other. Yet this is not quite the case: some people have advantages others do not; some people are born into rich families, others poor ones; some are girls and some are boys; etc. This makes a difference to one’s potential. It seems a waste to me that a geniious born into a poor family might have his potential unforfilled. I therefore take a left-wing stance: I think the role of the state should be to equalise the chances for everyone, thereby maximizing the potential. If all familes have roughly equal incomes, there would be less waste as everyone would get an equal share of the finite resources we have. After all, why should one child get more than the other, simply due to the circuumstances of his birth?

Having CP, I have just as much value as anyone else, so I feel I should get a more equal share of the resourcees. To become wealthy, you usuallyy need either a swift tounge or steeady hands; I have niether, but that is not my fault. Is it not unfair that I get less money and less of a share of resources simply because I have CP?

My friend was arguing the opposite. Yes, everyone is of equal worth, but society is not and can never be equal. From this it follows that the state should back away, and let the best succeed while others fail. That is just part of human nature. We should not strive for the unachievable task of equuality, but let everyone get on with it. It’s not that he’s totally against state benefits, but I think his point is they’re too liberally awarded. I rather like James, and I think I see where he’s coming from, but something about his logic troubles me.