In his column this week, assistant editor John Hirschauer took a look at “equity” policies in the federal government, especially in the USDA. Equity, as our vice president has explained, is the principle that everyone should “end up at the same place.” This, as Hirschauer points out, is distinct from equality, the equal treatment of American citizens under the law. President Joe Biden’s latest equity executive order requires federal agencies and departments to set up teams to compile demographic data that can demonstrate equity progress or lack of it, which will excuse further racial intervention in American public life. Hirschauer writes: “Where colorblindness is rooted in the principle of equality, equity is color-conscious, seeking not to avoid discrimination but rather to actively discriminate in favor of minority groups.”

And continuing our partnership with the American System project on political economy, yesterday saw publication of a history and assessment of the U.S. health care industry from Robert Orr of the Niskanen Center. Orr looks at America’s relationship to medicine through the lens of our Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian governing impulses. We have had Hamiltonian moments, but, Orr writes, “the paradox of the American health care system is that its Jeffersonian heritage, with its mistrust of unchecked power, has led to a system that is so complex that accountability is impossible.” A better balance between the two must be found.

Best,

Micah Meadowcroft
Web Editor

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