Why do some people believe in laissez-faire capitalism, opposing wealth redistribution or limits on the ability of the rich to unfairly exploit their existing economic power? Self-interest is obviously the dominating factor. You don’t meet a lot of poor capitalists, and everyone knows that rich socialists are consciously rejecting their best economic interests. But in addition to self-interest, there is the capitalist’s need to believe that they are inherently superior to other people and that they deserve to be rewarded for this. Never mind that I can’t choose my genes, parents, or socio-economic situation at birth, the universe clearly prefers me and I should be able to benefit as much as possible from the fact that I am luckier than other people, dammit!

It is the height of arrogance to think that you deserve all of the credit for your success in life. Certainly, it is usually true to some degree that a successful person has worked hard, but it is extremely likely that they also benefited from advantages that other people didn’t have and caught a few lucky breaks. For instance, even just by virtue of being born in the right place, most Americans are among the richest 5% of earthlings. Moreover, successful people invariably rely upon technology and circumstances created by the past and present work of countless other people. Society is a collective project, and it is incredibly arrogant to try to benefit from its fruits without giving your fair share back.

No man is an island. We live together. Everyone, even the super-rich, depends on the participation of everyone else in the economy in order for them to get money to buy things with. The people below you on the social ladder are essentially forced to participate in the system in order to live.  You are too, just to a slightly lesser extent. If you treat the people below you with less than complete empathy because to do so would require you to accept being a little less well off, then you are in a dangerous place should the social structures that shackle the people below you ever disappear. And a society with a large proportion of members who consider the people below them in this light, well, that is a society ripe for revolution.

Suck on that, Randroids.