What is it? "We are all created equal". Aside from the fact that this has religous (and therefore, to my mind, dogmatic) overtones, it is simply wrong. That is trivially easy to demonstrate with these sample questions which demonstrate four extreme cases:
I cannot conceive of a rational, reasonably intelligent individual being able to look at that list and claim equality of potential by and from birth with the extremes mentioned there. Even the confused "environment is all" apologists are stopped by the Down's Syndrome child... and they would be by Mozart also, if they even had an inkling of the depth of the man's talents.
Do you want to seriously claim that equaility is some general, undefinable thing that can be applied like a paintbrush to these types of cases (and others) to make them the same? I'll listen if you think you can make the case, but I'll tell you right now, I don't believe anyone can take that position and argue it sucessfully. But feel free to try and prove me wrong here.
No, I don't think we're all created equal. I think that is complete and utter nonsense. As near as I can observe, we're not even created close to equal.
It is my thinking that what should have been said is something along the lines of "We shall offer all equal opportunity - and what the citizens shall make of it is their own business". Then we could concentrate on opportunity and forget this equalization business.
I have met many who make me humble; they have the ability to think and reason to such depths it is a thing of absolute beauty. I have met those so profoundly retarded that their life is an abcess of misery I cannot entirely conceptualize. As much as any person can know any one thing, I know this: We are as different in our potentials as we are in our realizations.