Most Americans believe in equality. We want to make sure that everyone has, to the greatest extent possible, an equal place at the starting line. From there, each individual has the freedom to achieve what their desires, ability, and hard work make possible. Achieving that kind of equality is the American dream, the engine that enables people from any walk of life to realize their dreams. Equity, as activists preach it, trades away this American heritage for abstractions and fantasies.

When Cato Institute co-founder Ed Crane was building the libertarian movement in the 1970s, he came across a lot of self-proclaimed conservatives. What’s notable about this is that in getting to know some of them, Crane sensed they weren’t as they described themselves.