There is a young, semi-prominent public intellectual that I follow semi-loosely. I met him many years ago in Dallas while at the Incel Academy, and thought he was quite interesting. You can find more about his work HERE. It’s worth subscribing to his Substack.
There is a very interesting idea that he has been working with about the appeal to America. For 250 years, immigrants and Americans have claimed that what makes America is equality. Unlike aristocratic Europe, the American Experiment was meant to be about “We the People”, that a free people can self-govern effectiveley.
Obviously this glosses over slavery and women’s suffrage and civil rights and Dredd Scott and laws against homosexuality and (wall of text). But the idea of equality remains extremely strong, both for Americans who were born here, immigrants who moved here, and outsiders who desire to join them.
Jonathon Bi inverts this concept in a way I find compelling. In the 18th and 19th Century, if you wanted to be part of a self-governing community where merit, rather than lineage, was what was important, then your options were few. Europe was still a land of kings, tsars, and lords. China was under the Qing Dynasty. Everywhere else you had a 99.99% chance of being under the thumb of your local tribe, the newly arrived colonialists, or both. That was it. It was America, or bust1.
Today, if you’re from the West, you have a lot of options. Almost all of Europe has discarded their monarchies; those who keep them are almost entirely ceremonial. If you’re interested in property rights being respected by the government, you can do it in New Zealand just as much as you can do it in New Mexico. If you want to practice your religion without persecution, you can do so Paris, France just as easily as you can do so in Paris, Texas.
So why are the most driven, educated, ambitious immigrants from the West so eager to get to the US? For Jonathon, it’s not the equality that is appealing, it is the INEQUALITY that they care about. Access to the biggest market, the best talent, a culture that celebrates success, abundant capital, and a supportive tax system make it the perfect place to be IF you think you are going to be in the top 10-1%. Unless you want to be a professional soccer player; if you want to be the best in the world, the USA is pretty good place to do it.
Are there downsides to a more unequal society. Obviously. But there are also upsides as well, even for those who are not in the 1% (and that very much includes me). A country that attracts the best and brightest, and allows them to thrive, produces unbelievable amounts of scientific, economic, financial, cultural, and technological progress.
I’m going to ponder more on Mr Bi’s work, and would love to hear your thoughts on this as well.
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