I have had a number of thoughtful emails following my piece about

neoliberalism at the end of it tether. Sample: “I wonder if you would

consider writing something to demonstrate mathematically that ‘the gap

between rich and poor,’ which the left loves to talk about, is a useless

concept since by definition it must increase as average incomes increase.

… The poor are commonly defined as people in the bottom 20-25% of the

income distribution, while the rich are in the top 10-15%. With those

definitions it is statistically impossible for the gap to do anything but

increase as

per capita income increases.”

Well, sure. The issue of inequality is, though, in my opinion, a nontrivial

one for conservatives. Take the following proposition:

“So long as you don’t have a large class surviving on the edge of

starvation, and so long as opportunities to get rich are open equally to

all, it doesn’t matter how many super-rich people you have, or what the size

of the gap is between them and the mass of citizens.”

That is certainly a defensible proposition — I mean, it is not

self-evidently absurd. I suspect, in fact, that a majority of American

conservatives would agree with it. I don’t. I believe that even in the

freest and most open society, it is possible to have too much inequality,

and I think that the state can legitimately interfere to moderate

inequality. (Though I acknowledge that there is no way to do so that is not

highly contentious.)

As I have noted before, American conservatives are a sunny lot, boundlessly

optimistic about human nature. Perhaps I haven’t sufficiently shaken off

the old-world mud from my boots, or the influence of my upbringing (family

solid for Labour), but I do think that the dark side of ordinary human

nature — of which envy is certainly a component — needs to be allowed for

if society is to be stable and harmonious.

It is all very well to tell people: “So long as you have enough, and the

freedom to advance yourself, why should you care what the other guy has?”

Everybody WILL care to some degree, and some peoplewill care a lot. That

generates political energy, which will find an outlet. You can’t ignore

human nature. Certainly you should not pander to its lower aspects, but to

blithely pretend they don’t exist is to ask for trouble.