Victor Davis Hanson on Obama’s tired, old idea of equality of results versus equality of opportunity:
In a word, it is adherence to the idea of equality of result rather than an equality of opportunity, the age-old debate that goes back to the Greeks. From Aristotle’s Politics and Plato Laws, we learn of the original dilemma: a stable city-state of roughly similar property owners, who vote as equals, and fight as comrades in the phalanx, tragically, but inevitably, soon becomes tragically unequal.
Divide the land up equally to found the polis; give everyone an similarly-size plot (klêros); and then health, luck, brains, accident, strength, ambition, character, and a myriad of other factors, some understandable, some capricious, conspire to create inequality. I agree with Aristotle; I have seen it with families and communities in which equal inheritances soon led to radically different outcomes, as one sibling on rocky ground thrives, while another in deep loam starves; one town with abundant resources goes broke, while another without natural advantages thrives.
As Aristotle saw, some lose, some expand their original homesteads, and suddenly we have Hoi beltistoi and Hoi polloi-and the rallying cry that someone’s liberty to do as he pleases means that egalitarianism of the lowest common denominator becomes impossible.
Do read it all, as always, Hanson is worth taking the time to do so.
From a personal standpoint, Hanson’s essay resonates deeply. I come from a poor, working class background. My father was a chef (to put the best face on it, cook might be closer to the truth), my mother a secretary. She was widowed when I was nine and raised a family of five children on her salary and the pittance Social Security provided back in those days. I worked my way through college – twice – and got a decent, professional job as an engineer. After many years of hard work, I now find myself working as a consultant, on contract.
Personally, I am not yet even close to the new definition of “rich” that Obama is imposing. But I have worked like a dog to get where I am now. But if I ever do cross that line into “They” territory, as Hanson puts it, a huge portion of what I have worked for will simply be taken away to be spent by Washington on whatever it deems important.
Because that’s “fair”.
To everyone except the people who have worked hard for what they earned, of course.
I have just finished working 20 straight 12-hour days* to meet a deadline. I can promise you this: if my income ever threatens to cross Obama’s “They” line, I will decline to work those kinds of hours – or, indeed, any more hours for the year.
That’s why the “Equality of Results” model fails in the real world. Without incentives, people will not willingly cross the arbitrary “They” line. The people who are willing to work like a dog to get ahead are not really willing to be treated like dogs just because they are hard working.
The real problems will start when there are no more “Theys” to pay for what’s “fair”.
*Side note, the 20 straight 12-hour days is why posting has been so light here lately.
UPDATE: Or what Anthony Said.
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I grew up across the street from Gaius and can attest to the truth of his statements. In fact, pretty much everyone in our neighborhood was what would have been called ‘lower middle class’ back then. My father was forced into retirement when I was six years old, told he was ‘too old to work’. He was 70 at the time. So, did he sit back and just collect Social Security? No, because if he had we would have dropped out of that ‘lower middle class’. My Mom worked hard, often six days a week in a factory and it was barely enough to get by on. So, my Dad started up his own mail order business (kind of an E-bay back in the 60s) rather than let society tell him he couldn’t earn a living and support his family any more. I had two older sisters and all three of us eventually went to college. I went twice. I’m not in Obama’s ‘rich’ category yet either, nor do I ever expect to be, at least until he lowers the threshold, which he WILL do in the years ahead. I’m not rich but I’m better off financially than my parents ever were. Why am I better off? Because of the example set by people like my parents, Gaius’ mother and many of our neighbors – that honest work is a good thing and that working hard to better yourself without expecting handouts from the government is an even better and honorable thing. I have no desire to hand all of that to the government if, by some odd chance, I do make enough to cross that ‘rich’ threshold nor do I think people who ARE on the other side of that threshold should be punished for being there or should be forced to pay for me, my children or my neighbors.