Inequality is a symptom of underlying causes, the same way a temperature is a symptom of the flu. Or, sweating could be a result of a 5K run. One is normal; the other is bad.
Inequality itself has no moral context. It is inevitable among humans born with different attributes, skills, deficiencies, personalities, drives, into families of different means and circumstances, with different values and hopes for their children.
It is the causes of inequality that must be understood, and where those causes offend our society’s values, the causes must be corrected. Simply trying to erase inequality by force of law is like trying to cure an infectious disease by taking aspirin to lower the fever.
Taking from the successful and giving to the unsuccessful, or lowering standards for the unqualified, or imposing quotas, or all the other prescriptions for erasing inequality by force of law, does not correct dysfunctional underlying causes, and does produce unintended consequences far worse in the long run.
Where the gains by the successful are the result of hard work, talent, risk taking, producing value for society, those gains are legitimate, praiseworthy, not to be denigrated or punished. Gains that result from cronyism, disreputable sharp practices, harm to society, from who-you-know, from insider knowledge, from political favors, these are illegitimate and should be opposed.
It is true that those born into difficult circumstances face unusual hardships to overcome. That will always be true. But it is also true that much of those difficulties and hardships are the result of the unintended consequences of government policies. Of policies favoring some political groups over others. Of over-regulation interfering with small businesses. When government favors teachers’ unions over charter schools and vouchers, for instance, it isn’t their intention to condemn poor students to a substandard education, but that is the result. When government passed Frank-Dodd to regulate massive banks, it wasn’t their intent to dry up local banks and credit availability to small businesses, but that was the result. When government brings in 100,000 legal immigrants every month, which they do, it isn’t their intent that those immigrants fill low income jobs that otherwise would be filled by Americans, but that is the result; 18 million times in the last 14 years. When race-baiters induced riots in LA Watts, it wasn’t their intention to ruin the business environment of their community for decades to come, but that was the result.
Unfortunately, the root causes that make it so hard for the poor to rise are complex and are interwoven into politics and the conflict among different political groups. And the weak just don’t have effective political advocates, so the powerful always win. It’s just so much easier to simply tax the rich and redistribute to the poor. But four decades of that Great Society approach has just made the problem worse and created new problems.
Are we finally ready to begin addressing political dimensions of the root causes?