Equal Opportunity

Tonight, at a local bar, I had a discussion with someone from from Arkansas. I can't remember how it started except that I'm sure I instigated it, but the substance of it had to do with my questioning him about how people from Arkansas feel about American opportunity and the American ideal. It's hard for me to understand how someone in a state as poor as Arkansas can not want to have worker protections--because naturally, what with my living in San Francisco, I imagine that everyone in Arkansas is living in a log cabin with their third cousins, chopping firewood, cleaning guns, and fuming about how it's somehow the Democrats' fault that their diabetic grandmothers are dying in the next room because Obama cut their Medicare.

At one point we argued about "equal opportunity." Personally, I don't see how any rational person can look at America and not see the inherent inequalities within our system. As if it's even remotely reasonable to believe that a person born in the Upper East Side of Manhattan has the same opportunities as someone born in East Oakland. What with his being a white Southerner, he went on and on about how we're all free to do whatever we want and everyone has the same opportunities if they're willing to work hard enough for it. Needless to say, the black door guy tended to disagree.

In the end, my Arkansas aquaintance turned out to be the (not an but THE) I.T. guy for the Arkansas State Police. And here he is arguing that we don't need government?

I asked him how he'd feel if they quit funding his job, and he said he'd "just find another job." (As if the Arkansas police don't need an I.T. guy...?) As much as I enjoyed this conversation, and he struck me as a reasonable, thoughtful person, isn't this just a little bit hypocritical? It's not like he doesn't understand where he gets his paycheck. How can someone argue against tax-payer funded infrastructure and simultaneously suck off the government teat?

[7/31 Note: I forgot to mention that he was in San Francisco on official business for some sort of computer training. I wonder how the citizens of Arkansas would feel about that?]