Wright identifies a key moral dilemma:
Scholars have offered different explanations for this disconnect between what people say they want and what they are willing to do about it.
Some argue that people chronically underestimate the scale of inequality – in the 2014 study, Americans underestimated the actual pay ratio at the time as being only 30-to-1. Others argue that the primary driver of the disconnect is people’s unwillingness to abandon their beliefs in merit – that wealth is the product of hard work, talent and risk.
Some also point to the fact that people can feel compelled to defend systems as essentially good, even when those systems produce harmful outcomes – a phenomenon known as “system justification.” This is in part because of the psychological need to believe in a just world, where good people are rewarded and bad people are punished.
Emphasis Mine
I tend to believe that many people justify the current socio-political regime through the lens of a 'Just World' framing. This contributes to the inertia of any social system whether the system is Feudalism or Slavery. People are loathe to believe thay they are living in an injust society. At the micro-level, this attitude contributes to women remaining in abusive relationships, people staying at bad jobs, or living in slums.
Wright goes on to clarify this moral fault line as follows:
On one side, This is in part because of the psychological need to believe in a heart of the “American Dream”: People have the right to keep and enjoy what their own efforts, talent and willingness to take risks produces. They also have a right to make their own way in the world, without undue interference, based on their own abilities to do so. They should be free to decide what to do with the wealth they have earned, including leaving it to current and future family members after death.
On the other side, there are serious moral harms to be prevented. Past a certain point, wealth stops being only money and becomes a detrimental form of power over others: People like Elon Musk have the capacity to shape markets such as the SpaceX IPO, influence politics by donating hundreds of millions to campaigns, and control major platforms where public debate happens, such as Twitter, now X.
Emphasis Mine
I think Wright is wrong to put the "American Dream" as distinct from the current Capitalist system. This dream is a deliberate construct to maintain the system. It exists to deflect any challenges to the basis of the system. The construction of the "American Dream" is built around the operation of a Capitalist system. They are inseparable. Rejecting one means rejecting the other. That is the genius of the construct.
Wright concludes:
The challenge, then, is not to feel less protective of what people earn and their right to earn it. Rather, it is to actively promote public discussion that is grounded in an accurate understanding of how extreme wealth, while benefiting a few, can substantively harm everyone else.
If people can keep in mind that, despite our differences, we generally want a more equal society, then I believe perhaps it will be possible to strike a moral balance that better protects all of us from harm.
Emphasis Mine
I think Wright is blind to how humans are. We are a rationalising species, not a rational one (as Aristotle proclaimed). We make decisions on what we feel and then find a rational basis for that decision.
To hope for a rational route to challenging extreme wealth is to hope for the Moon. We delude ourselves if the revelations from the Epstein Files can shake our faith that wealth accummulates to 'worthier' people. We need to utilise our disgust and revulsion at their antics to challenge the system that created and enabled them.
AI Disclosure
Image was generated by Gemini AI.
