This quote from Ludwig von Mises’ The Anti-Capitalist Mentality explains why progressives, socialists and fascists (socialists of the right) all despise, at least in practice if not rhetorically, the concept of equality under the law. Progressive taxation, bailouts of industries and other spread-the-wealth-schemes, racial quotas and other kinds of preferences in the law, are all deviations from this principle. Of course, in the United State this concept is rooted in both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The suffering from frustrated ambition is peculiar to people living in a society of equality under the law. It is not caused by equality under the law, but by the fact that in a society of equality under the law the inequality of men with regard to intellectual abilities, will power and application become visible. The gulf between what a man is and what he achieves and what he thinks of his own abilities and achievements is pitilessly revealed. Daydreams of a “fair” world which would treat him according to his “real worth” are the refuge of all those plagued by a lack of self-knowledge.
(Thanks to a student of mine for calling my attention to this quote in a recent term paper.)
