My must read of the day is "Inequality of language muddies debate," by Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post:
Moving along to today’s headlines and "income inequality."
This may be one of the most brilliant turns of phrase yet. Not one single American, gun to head (figuratively speaking), would say, "I’m for inequality" or "inequality is good." But is inequality what we’re really talking about?
When you step back and examine the concept closely, what becomes clear is that roughly 99.9 percent of Americans — perhaps even North Korea’s favorite son Dennis Rodman — actually like income inequality. This is because we value merit, talent and hard work, and all people aspire to be commensurately rewarded. What, after all, is the opposite of income inequality? Income equality.
Politics will always be a word game. It’s partly a depressing truth, because ideally it’d be based on the content of policies, but as an English major, I also love that words run things – I like to think it proves that my studies, despite what the biology majors try to tell you, were more valuable than all the math and science courses.
When it comes to income inequality, Parker is right, most people actually like it. It isn’t an injustice when wealth has been earned, and the average American has not inherited the bulk of their wealth. They’ve worked for it and earned it. Even if you aren’t a millionaire, most people feel they have worked hard to get where they are. To eradicate income discrepancies would discredit everyone’s achievements. So long as the opportunities are accessible to everyone, "income inequality" is not at all unfair.