Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance,
and the gospel of envy.
and the gospel of envy.
— Winston Churchill
Libertarian orthodoxy holds that envy underlies opponents' views.
Envy—one of the seven deadly sins—is irrational, imprudent, unseemly, vicious, and irredeemably wrong.
"Envy is pain at the good fortune of others," Aristotle said. It aims “to destroy the good fortune of another person,” Kant believed, and is "that passion which views with malignant dislike the superiority of those who are really entitled to all the superiority they possess," Adam Smith said.
Champions of wealth redistribution—those venal "socialists"—base their arguments for it on fairness. But libertarians will have none of it: socialists are simply craven and judgmental; and the people they want to help are just lazy bums and losers.
Nietzsche saw envy in the right light. He believed it was a good thing, because it signals, from deep down, what we really want in life. And we suppress it at our peril, because envy is powerful and will overwhelm us.
When the economic differences between the haves and have-nots become so insuperable the disadvantaged lose heart, society will crumble.
