{"id":1438,"date":"2016-02-05T10:20:28","date_gmt":"2016-02-05T15:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=1438"},"modified":"2016-02-05T10:20:28","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T15:20:28","slug":"the-myth-of-equality-and-the-forgotten-man-remembering-w-g-sumner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2016\/02\/the-myth-of-equality-and-the-forgotten-man-remembering-w-g-sumner.html","title":{"rendered":"The Myth of Equality and the Forgotten Man: Remembering W.G. Sumner"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently just found a nearly four year-old essay<\/a> in Slate <\/em>that caught my interest for three reasons.<\/p>\n

First, though it was written during the last presidential election, it is as succinct a statement of the left\u2019s perspective on the GOP\u2019s attitude toward \u201cincome inequality\u201d as any available: Republicans like <\/em>\u201cincome inequality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Secondly, it references William Graham Sumner, a brilliant, tough-as-nails 19th<\/sup> century conservative <\/em>sociologist who the essay credits with having \u201cinvented the GOP\u2019s defense of the wealthy [.]\u201d<\/p>\n

Thirdly, unsurprisingly, the essay gives Sumner a raw deal.<\/p>\n

For starters, the term \u201cincome inequality,\u201d while politically useful, is ontologically meaningless: it refers to nothing other than the left\u2019s own preferences.<\/p>\n

Considered as a moral ideal, the concept of equality has always been ambiguous. Ideologues have exploited this ambiguity in order to consolidate the power of the few, political office-holders, at the expense of the many\u2014who Sumner refers to as \u201cthe Forgotten Man\u201d\u2014whose resources in time, energy, property, and person they would commandeer for the sake of benefitting \u201cthe poor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enter the contemporary idiom of \u201cincome inequality.\u201d<\/p>\n

In reality, \u201cinequalities\u201d are nothing more or less than those instances of \u201cdiversity\u201d that the left doesn\u2019t like. Conversely, \u201cdiversity\u201d consists of nothing other than those instances of \u201cinequality\u201d that the left likes.<\/p>\n

Beverly Gage is correct when she notes that Sumner\u2019s chief object of concern is \u201cthe Forgotten Man,\u201d the law-abiding, working-class taxpayer. Yet she not so subtly insinuates that such a figure, thanks to Sumner, has become \u201ca staple of American political rhetoric\u201d behind the guise of which Sumner (and by implication, contemporary Republicans) actually advocate on behalf of \u201cthe rich.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a political thinker, Sumner\u2019s chief contribution lay neither in his praise for the rich, nor his lament for the Forgotten Man, but in his attempt to combine the two.\u201d Gage concludes: \u201cFor better or worse, he offered a model for resolving the great conundrum of modern Republican politics: how to champion the wealthy while claiming to speak for the unsung middle class.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sumner and Republicans are hypocrites and phonies.<\/p>\n

In truth, Sumner did<\/em> indeed speak for \u201cthe unsung middle class.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Forgotten Man\u201d is the person whose resources are taken by the \u201csocial doctors\u201d\u2014those who are \u201calways under the dominion of the superstition of government\u201d\u2014and redistributed to those classes of which, appealing to \u201cthe sympathies and the imagination,\u201d they transform into \u201csocial pets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gage, not unlike any other leftist who reduces the virtue of charity to government activism, accuses Sumner of not caring for those upon whom the left would like to spend the resources of others. But what he says is that the Forgotten Man, \u201cthe real sufferer\u201d of the \u201ckind of benevolence\u201d for which \u201cthe friends of humanity\u201d\u2014i.e. the foes of \u201cincome inequality\u201d\u2014are noted, being \u201cworthy, industrious, independent, and self-supporting,\u201d could\u2019ve benefitted himself and in turn benefit society if the resources that government expends on \u201c\u2018the poor,\u2019\u201d and \u201c\u2018the weak\u2019\u201d would have instead remained in his pocket in the form of an increase in wages.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sumner refers to the virtually \u201cinvincible prejudice that a man who gives a dollar to a beggar is generous and kind-hearted, but that a man who refuses the beggar and puts the dollar in a savings-bank is stingy and mean.\u201d This isn\u2019t just a prejudice; it is an invidious prejudice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The man who gives to a beggar \u201cis putting capital where it is very sure to be wasted, and where it will be a kind of seed for a long succession of future dollars\u201d that are just as likely to be wasted. But the man who invests his dollar turns it into capital, specifically capital that will be \u201cgiven to a laborer who, while earning it, would have reproduced it [.]\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, the Forgotten Man, \u201cpasses by and is never noticed, because he has behaved himself, fulfilled his contracts, and asked for nothing [.]\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The doctrine of equality that is the pretext for creating greater inequalities of power between government coercers and those who are coerced Sumner describes as a \u201cdogma,\u201d a \u201csuperstition,\u201d \u201cthe most flagrant falsehood and the most immoral doctrine which men have ever believed[.]\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unless it was false, then we must believe that \u201cthe man who has not done his duty is as good as the one who has done his duty,\u201d that the \u201cthe teachings of the moralists\u201d from throughout the ages is nonsense, for moralists have always taught \u201cyouth that men who pursue one line of action will go down to loss and shame, and those who pursue another course will go up to honor and success.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is inequality <\/em>that is self-evident. Virtues and rewards in life \u201care so hard\u201d to come by that they require much \u201cstudy\u201d and \u201cstriving.\u201d Thus, only a relatively few achieve them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s correct that \u201cmen are very unequal in what they get out of life,\u201d but \u201cthey are\u201d even \u201cmore unequal in what they put into it.\u201d Sumner adds: \u201cThe most unequal bargain has always been made by the men who have done the world\u2019s thinking for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for the idea that \u201cthe disadvantaged\u201d have been deprived of the benefits of society, Sumner calls this the product of \u201cmonstrous ignorance.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is not a person in a civilized state,\u201d Sumner asserts, \u201cwho does not share in the inheritance of institutions, knowledge, ideas, doctrines, etc., which come down as fruits of civilization [.]\u201d We tend not to realize this, though, because such fruits are imbibed \u201cby habit and routine [.]\u201d Instead, we \u201csuppose that they come of themselves, or are innate [.]\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From the time of the cradle we are taking advantage of \u201cfacts, knowledge, skill and the like which it cost the human race thousands of years to accumulate.\u201d And even long after we have become adults, we just \u201cas unconsciously as children\u201d continue to \u201cuse the products of civilization [.]\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The daily goods that we take for granted are the fruits of the \u201cprodigious struggles\u201d of earlier generations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This election cycle and ever after, those on the receiving end of the left\u2019s lambasting would do well to visit the work of William Graham Sumner.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently just found a nearly four year-old essay in Slate that caught my interest for three reasons. First, though it was written during the last presidential election, it is as succinct a statement of the left\u2019s perspective on the GOP\u2019s attitude toward \u201cincome inequality\u201d as any available: Republicans like \u201cincome inequality.\u201d Secondly, it references…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Myth of Equality and the Forgotten Man: Remembering W.G. Sumner<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2016\/02\/the-myth-of-equality-and-the-forgotten-man-remembering-w-g-sumner.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Myth of Equality and the Forgotten Man: Remembering W.G. Sumner\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I recently just found a nearly four year-old essay in Slate that caught my interest for three reasons. 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