What do you value more? Freedom, or Equality? Because, if you think about it, they two opposing values...
Freedom would be having the liberty given to people to choose a shirt of the colour they like.
Equality, on the other hand, tries to ensure that everyone wears the shirt of the same colour.
So you see... promoting equality necessarily restricts freedom. (Yes I know it's not so simple, but think about the idea... or give me your definition of freedom).
Any set of laws (or to generalize, behaviour-inducing incentives) necessarily achieve a compromise between the two values. However, people are NOT born equal, only born free... Whenever the laws (policies?) tend more towards equality than towards a freedom, there seems to be a problem. (e.g. China, Russia, reservations, affirmative action to name a few).
P.S: I personally value freedom more than equality. People who value equality more... I'd like to know your views please. It would be interesting.
