The quest for equality isn't grounded in reality. The idealist believes they can create an equal income society, but when it comes to income distribution you can't separate wealth from the causes or factors that create it.
You need a certain calibre or type of person to start, operate and grow a business successfully. Many attributes and skills are required. Those who distinguish themselves behave differently and produce different results from the majority who fail in business.
Built on small businesses
Small business owners literally carry the livelihoods of the western world on their backs.
If it wasn't for self-motivated entrepreneurs who took it upon themselves, voluntarily, to form a business and pay the average middle class Joe in exchange for his labour, we literally would live in the third world. No one forced these people to create successful enterprises. But because they were successful in business, government has money for roads, schools and welfare.
A prosperous society needs a government with limited powers: which do not burden small businesses with excessive taxation. Or threaten and deprive individuals of private property protections or impose excessive regulations which only deter industry and investment. But when government knows its good limits it will be conducive, or at the least not a hindrance, to the people who create jobs. The job creators are the ones who have enabled a Middle Class, previously absent in history.
When government steps in to enforce equality in income distribution, all it can do is take from the successful and give it to the less successful. But if it does this excessively, it will harm the middle class, by reducing business profits for capital investment and ultimately job creation. Since there is less profit to reinvest in business, there will be less growth and jobs.
Wealthier people usually live in less crime-inflicted neighbourhoods, so their assets are safe. And business owners are reluctant to invest in dangerous or unsafe neighbourhoods. No one wants to invest in property (for industrial or for private use) if it is likely to get damaged, stolen or devalue due to criminal activity. So moral values also play a crucial role in an environment of trust and good faith necessary for a prosperous society. When moral principles are present, trade and commerce are encouraged through mutual trust.
Forcing equality
If government artificially attempts to enforce income equality by taking from the successful and giving to the less successful, it is usually a short-lived solution because of the real root issue: moral values are lacking. Success is significantly defined by moral values/principles like work-ethic, reliability, honesty, diligence, etc. So if you deal with the deficit in values, it will bolster economies. But Governments can't do that very efficiently—only God can.
Christians also understand that we live under the curse—we must toil to make a living. Things of value that we need for survival and comfort only arrive out of hard work and investment. But we live in a time where some can live free at the expense of others without applying themselves. And some also blame the successful for their own failures—they blame capitalism while using their (free-market produced) smartphones to express their outrage.
We should dispel the fiction that creating an economically equal and uniform society is possible without tackling the lack in values that cause poverty (including excesses of corporatism and cronyism etc.). Different cultures, with different values and work-ethics will produce different results and corresponding levels of wealth.
Amos is an evangelical conservative, who cares about where the world is going, and seeks to understand why it is happening, especially in light of prophecy and the spiritual powers behind the scenes. Amos currently lives in Auckland New Zealand. Amos pursues salvation for the lost, and considers himself a defender of traditional Christian values, liberal democracy and the historically unprecedented freedom and liberty established and defended by our forebears – which unfortunately, is gradually being eroded.
Amos Sale's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/amos-sale.html