We aren't equal, and our species would have gone extinct long ago if we were.

If a panel of nuclear physicists is discussing how to design the next particle collider, and a pipe from the restroom breaks, the plumber who comes to fix it may have a wonderful design for a particle collider, but he or she is not automatically given time at the panel without submitting it for peer review first. Likewise, none of those nuclear physicists will probably be trusted to fit the pipes correctly. They are both superior within their fields of expertise, and it is this specialization that has allowed innovation and the advancement of our species.

Even if we are equal, is that a natural state? Or is it something that can be forced by a government?

If we agree that theft is wrong, we cannot morally make exceptions to that rule. Likewise for murder, coercion, kidnapping, etc. If a 100% tax rate is equivalent to slavery, what is a 40% tax rate, if not simply a matter of degrees?

If I rob you at gunpoint, we probably agree that I have committed a crime against you. But if my friends and I get together and take a vote to rob you at gunpoint, suddenly it's justified? Because that seems to the be rationale used by supporters of various governments, whose primary function has always been first to live at the expense of others, and second to perpetuate its own existence.