Consider the view that conservatism is opposed to equality

In approaching this question, we should first ensure we have a complete understanding of our terminology: Conservatism and Equality. Conservatism here refers to both a historical branch of political philosophy, epitomised by theorists such as Ayn Rand, Robert Nozick and Edmund Burke, and institutionalised governance by the British Conservative Party. It is imperative that we make a distinction between two forms of equality in political philosophy; equality of outcome and equality of opportunity. While we can present a strong argument that conservative politics has been opposed to the former, the latter has been central to conservative political attitudes to economics and education. Our answer should draw on examples from contemporary politics to achieve the highest marks. In demonstrating Conservativism's opposition to equality of outcome, we should highlight Conservative government attitudes to the welfare state as they have been expressed over the last half a decade. The New Right has stressed the importance of work while critiquing the welfare state as a paternalistic project that creates lazy individuals with limited personal responsibility. This attitude has been operationalised in the last decade through such policies as benefit caps, the bedroom tax and the privitisation of public industries. We should then return to the question of equality of opportunity to provide a counter to our previous parragraph and show we have considered the question from every angle. In this final parragraph, we should highlight conservative theorists argument for the importance of equal capacity for self making and individual enterprise. Examples for this section might include discussions of the Grammar School System and the work of conservative philosopher Milton Friedman.