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07 Nov 2008 01:19 pm

The Politics Of Inequality

Wilkinson and Manzi disagree about the importance of inequality. Here's Manzi's bottom line:

Why does a person with whom I agree about so much find inequality to be much less troubling than I do? I’ve thought a lot about this, and I believe that ultimately it’s because I see the world as a much more dangerous and violent place than Will does. I think that living in an extended, law-bound, commercial society is deeply unnatural, and the product of many generations of work. Aspects of human nature are an acid that constantly undermines its foundations. Hordes of violent men are always outside the city gates ready to sack it, and those inside always threaten to turn into a mob and destroy it from within. One of many bulwarks against these threats is social cohesion, which is undermined by extreme inequality.

I'm with Manzi. Aristotle convinced me of this a long time ago. I'd just prefer to tackle inequality by investing in education rather than skewing tax rates.

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