SKIP TO CONTENT SKIP TO SITE INDEX SECTION NAVIGATION Search SUBSCRIBE FOR €0.50/WEEK LOG IN ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT OPINION GUEST ESSAY ‘All Men Are Created Equal’? Not Everyone Agrees. June 11, 2026 Credit... Cleon Peterson Listen · 6:00 min Share full article 627 By Kim Phillips-Fein Dr.

Phillips-Fein is a professor of history at Columbia University. See more of our coverage in your search results. Add The New York Times on Google Increasingly, we see some of the leading figures in and around Silicon Valley expressing skepticism of contemporary notions of egalitarianism and even disdain for equality.

In his 2014 book, “Zero to One,” the tech investor Peter Thiel, who has had a hand in the rise of companies from PayPal to Palantir, described an economic world in which “a small few radically outstrip all rivals,” a power dynamic that is “the law of the universe.” Last year in a post on X, Elon Musk said, “It increasingly appears that humanity is a biological bootloader for digital superintelligence,” a phrase that seems to suggest we’re all just inputs for wealth-generating enterprises.

Carlos Carvalho, the president of the University of Austin, an institution with supporters including Mr. Thiel and other tech moguls, gave a convocation address last year titled “In Defense of Inequality.” ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT It’s tempting to believe that these paeans to inequality represent a new and heterodox train of thought in our politics.

After all, Americans like to think of ourselves as a country that believes deeply and universally in equality for all. We tend to say that, yes, the ideal that “all men are created equal” was radical when it was first set out in the Declaration of Independence but that over time it has steadily become a given.

Not exactly. Our country has long nurtured a strain of anti-egalitarianism, especially when it comes to the economy. Dr. Carvalho conceded in his speech that we are “created” equal. But throughout our history there have been voices that have contended that despite the abiding tension between political democracy and the forces of capitalism, we should learn to view inequality as something that is natural and even good.

Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like. A version of this article appears in print on June 14, 2026, Section SR, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: The Nation’s Founding Creed Has Always Had Its Critics. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe READ 627 COMMENTS Share full article 627 Related Content ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Site Index Site Information Navigation © 2026 The New York Times Company NYTCoContact UsAccessibilityWork with usAdvertiseT Brand StudioPrivacy PolicyCookie PolicyTerms of ServiceTerms of SaleSite MapHelpSubscriptionsManage Privacy Preferences To leave without signing in, use your browser's Back button.

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