Humans' Equality Before the Law

What is equality before the law?

'Before the law' must be taken seriously. This principle is focused on the laws' equal treatment of the nation's (state's, community's, etc.) people. The law cannot justly favor rich people over poor people. The government's treating its citizens equally does not mean it should enforce equality of circumstances; that would be doomed to fail. One's equality is not one's being equal. All humans were created equal--but they are not the same.

It is natural and right for a government to attempt to procure the maximum amount of equality among its citizens. Rights emanate (at least) from the equality of constitution. No individual is naturally justified in harming his fellow human. No individual is naturally more deserving of being harmed by fellow humans. The government has a right to protect its citizens from those who seek to harm or actually do harm fellow citizens.

The matter is different when considering equality before the law regarding ideas. Our equality of constitution does mean we are not to infringe on others' bodies (and property), but our equality also means we are all seekers of truth. We have our own minds as well as our own bodies, and it is proper that we are allowed to think what we will as long as we do not infringe on others' bodies or minds.

Since people under a government are in a social context and because we are influenced by the ideas around us, infringing on another's mind would have to be intense in order to justify action by the government; it would have to be something along the lines of one's forcing another to believe certain things (e.g., hooking another's brain up to a brain programmer). Otherwise, the government's curtailing of liberty to think certain thoughts due to the effect on others' brains is curtailing the liberty to think of the one 'causing the problem' in the first place.

Much value can be seen in 'equality before the law'. If equality before the law were a fundamental principle of the government in the United States, we would be much better off.