Liberal Perspective on Democracy and Equality

Estefanía Campos  | 24 de enero de 2018  | Vistas: 493

Robert (Bob) Chitester shared with students of Universidad Francisco Marroquín his thoughts on democracy and equality as well as some details of the person who fundamentally changed his life, Milton Friedman; whom he describes as a second father for the lessons he learned from him.

He begins with a fictitious story to reflect on the importance of cause and effect in life, to introduce the topic of democracy, equality and freedom. Chitester talks on how democracy is not a guarantee of freedom and reads the poem The Inheritance to discuss property rights. Later Bob quotes Alexis de Tocqueville and Milton Friedman’s most important ideas:

A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither, A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both." - Milton Friedman

Chitester says, there is always a trade off when pursuing equality, and it is freedom, but the market and its impact are a solution. Later he shares a story to prove there are often more than one solutions to one problem.

Your ability to everyday shape the society you’re in is huge.” - Robert Chitester

Bob later talks about the challenges and negative aspects of equality and its relationship with cause and effect. Another topic addressed is the loss of individual freedom because of group authority. Finally he reflects on Viktor Frankl’s idea on freedom: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”.