A complication here is that Rawls does not anyway insist on FEO come what may, even though the heavens should fall. We should probably follow Rawls on this point. An insistence on equality in Rawls is really a insistence on a presumption of equality. He proposes equal basic liberties for all, but allows that some restrictions of basic liberties might be needed to strengthen the system of basic liberties over time, and such restriction, even unequal restriction, is acceptable provided the lesser liberty is acceptable from the standpoint of those who suffer the basic liberty deficit. In a similar way he proposes that social and economic inequalities are acceptable only if attached to positions that are open to all under FEO, but allows that inequalities of opportunity ruled out by FEO can yet be acceptable provided they “enhance the opportunities of those with lesser opportunity” (Rawls 1999: 266).