Mr Bate,

Thanks for the well articulated reply. I find myself in agreement w/most of your post...we may have to arm wrestle at some point regarding "redistribution." :-)

I guess, If I have to distill my thoughts down to one cogent point, it would be: America, although certainly far from perfect, provides an environment where most folks have the opportunity to improve their lot through their own talent and effort. Moreover, the number of folks who do not get that opportunity because of the "piled up barriers," is diminishing. Not near as quickly as we would like, but they are diminishing. I think you hit the nail on the head, regarding "probability." The more barriers you remove, the more "probable" that your progeny will be more successful than you.`

I worked in the counter insurgency field for quite awhile, stomping around in the jungle. The one single thing that I found (yes I know, single data point) that had the greatest effect, was emplacing enough democratic institutions and economic infrastructure that Joe Campesino (Farmer) could righteously believe that his kids might have a better start that he got. All we had to show was a track record of improvement...it didn't have to be great strides...but it had to be somewhat steady...baby steps if you will.

In short, I'm all for knocking down those systemic barriers. However, I am definitely against any effort by government to guarantee outcomes and I am certainly against the thought that anyone (government included) has any right to tell me what I "need" and thereafter take any "excess" away and direct it towards someone/something else.

Regards,

Mike