Equality Is Better for Everyone

Dear Editor,
    Michael Ventura’s “Letters at 3AM” column has been performing a valuable service with his continuing series on the American Oligarchy. His articles show how the United States has transformed from having a broad-minded establishment (think the Founding Fathers) to a self-serving elite (think Mexico or Pakistan), citing specific laws and trends that moved us away from the egalitarian spirit that animated our young republic.
    Mr. Ventura should know that a similar analysis was performed about Great Britain by Anthony Sampson in his Anatomy of Britain series. The final edition in 2004 somewhat wistfully rued the end of the rule of aristocrats, good ol’ boys, and civil servants. It wasn’t because the old order was great, it’s because they threw out the gentlemen and put in narcissistic financiers (think British Gordon Gekkos) and media-driven politicians (think Tony Blair) in charge.
    I highly recommend to all readers that they pick up the book The Spirit Level: Why Equality Is Better for Everyone. This book by two medical researchers shows how everything from crime, life expectancy, teenage pregnancy rates, conspicuous consumption, and depression is affected more by income gaps between the rich-middle-poor than by the absolute wealth of the country. First-world countries like Sweden (or even neighboring Canada) have high levels of equality and consequently have less violent crime and higher educational outcomes than unequal countries like the UK or USA. Did you know living in a more equal state like Vermont or Iowa will give you a longer life expectancy than if you live in unequal Texas or California? The same is true even in individual counties with poor distributions of wealth.
    If Ventura is looking for the scientific case for dismantling the Oligarchy, he should look no further. Curiously, the book (very popular in the UK) has yet to be reviewed in most of America … including his beloved Economist and New York Times.