The story was published in 1961 amid multiple social movements for equality (e.g., Civil Rights and Second Wave Feminism). Vonnegut focused on the push for equality and took it to logical extremes: because each individual is different, true equality can never be achieved. In order to illustrate this, Vonnegut’s future American government tries to eliminate all individual advantages (intelligence, athleticism, beauty, talent, etc.) so that all citizens are indistinguishable in terms of ability.
The society does this to achieve a somewhat noble level of equality, but in its quest for utopia, society loses its humanity and recognition that not all goals are possible.
Vonnegut’s message, then, is that society collectively can’t solve social ills because pure equality is unattainable. In light of the historical context in which this story exists, it seems that Vonnegut disapproved of the public’s shifting opinion in favor of equal rights for women and people of color.
The government in "Harrison Bergeron" is faced with a serious problem. On the one hand, it wants to establish a completely equal society. At the same time, however, it has to deal with an uncomfortable truth: people aren't equal in terms of skill, physical strength, and intellectual capacity. So the only way that the problem can be tackled, in their view, is through drastic measures that drag everyone down to the same level. In effect, the government is acknowledging that natural differences do exist between people. And as there's very little the powers that be can do about that inconvenient fact, they have no choice but to resort to such absurd, tyrannical policies as making people wear handicaps if they're considered too gifted in one respect or another.
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