The Politics of Envy

The National Center for Policy Analysis has a telling article today on the liberal fascination with "equality."

The egalitarian argument says that we care more about our financial position relative to others than about our absolute income. Experimental studies are often cited that appear to bear this idea out:

In one experiment, 56 percent of participants chose a hypothetical job paying $50,000 per year while everyone else earned $25,000, rather than a job paying $100,000 per year while others made $200,000.

Thus, the very fact that some people have less than others leads to unhappiness, even without deprivation.

Truly stunning, isn't it? Especially in a great country like America, that some people would be more interested in keeping their neighbor down than doing better themselves. This is why it is often said that the Left exploits envy, that is, class envy.

One of the great ideals of America is that of "equality of opportunity." That means all citizens have the same innate opportunity to achieve their goals.

The dirt-poor farmer's son has the same institutional opportunity to be president or a billionaire as does the son born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Of course, one begins life with a greater head start than the other, but no one is slamming the door in the face of the poor boy because "you don't come from the right background" or some such. That is the kind of inequality faced by many in other countries, but not here.

Marxism, however, believes not in "equality of opportunity" but "equality of outcome." While this sounds nice in theory, not everyone can be president. Not everyone has the mental faculties or temperament to run a corporation or be an astronaut.

What's more, in order to even have a hope of guaranteeing equality of outcome, you have to completely strip everyone of their freedom and their possessions, then have some government entity redistribute those "equally." In reality, it doesn't spread opportunity; it just spreads the misery.

And when you consider human nature (as we've seen played out in every communist country in the world), you get what the animals found out in George Orwell's "Animal Farm": while all animals are equal, some animals are more equal than others.