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Because Thomas Sowell is so strong in this, I almost want just to get out of the way. But it is not in my nature. So please allow me a couple of complementary points.
- Friedman's example of a world in which everyone is exactly the same is not a "straw man," but a reductio of the egalitarian position. It is a way of asking -- "when will you be content? How much will you have to take from people before your envy and indignation is finally quelled?"
- For all the claptrap you hear about "diversity," egalitarians don't celebrate it. True diversity comes in differences among natural assets, circumstances of birth and in other ways. People for whom there is no envy gene are okay with true diversity. We may care about the conditions of the distressed poor, but that is not the same as concern for any so-called "gap."
- Sowell absolutely blisters here on the question of process. He succinctly evokes one of the theses of his great work Knowledge and Decisions, which could be one of the most underrated books of political theory.
- I'm glad to see Sowell get angry here. This is so typical of the way socialist intellectuals have tried to co-opt the Civil Rights movement and claim it as an offshoot of the socialist revolution. Piven chennels them very well and Sowell is right to call her out on it. Sadly, I think Piven believes the Civil Rights Movement was about wealth redistribution rather than equal rights before the law and an end to Jim Crow.
- Friedman closes strong with the discussion of the real problem of "equalized" societies -- rife rent-seeking and special privileges granted by government. These public choice problems create distortions that result not only in gross inequality, but they destructive of liberty. These societies are unfair in the truest sense of fairness.
- Piven's critique of private property in this exposes her true colors -- in case anyone was wondering.
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