We hear a lot about equality these days: equality in income, education, marriage, gender, race, class – the list could go on.

Judging by many of the complaints which come from various interest groups, one would assume that the inequality of Americans is actually increasing as time goes on. But are things really that bad? The Tocqueville quote below makes us wonder: does the seeming increase of inequality signal that America has actually attained very high levels of equality? And are those high levels of equality the cause of an increased demand for it?