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First let me congratulate you on starting this dialogue. I wish there was more of this between conservatives and liberals, rather than just name calling, because it would lead to discussing the fundamental issues and preconceptions that divide us.

For example, you look at the wealth distribution of this country and you cringe. It doesn't fit your world view of how the wealth in a just society should be distributed. This is because we have been taught that just means equal. Implied in your question is the premise that equality is a noble pursuit, (while, ironically and simultaneously you also pursue diversity - but, that's another topic). I couldn't disagree more. I cannot imagine a more miserable place to live than a society where equality reigned supreme. Societies that have only gone part way to achieving equality, such as Cuba, the soviet union, north korea, china during the cultural revolution, are edens compared to the hell, cohersion, misery and lifelessness that would exist in a truly equal society.

How can that be? you might ask. The most unfortunate phrase in the declaration of independence, an otherwise brilliant document, is the one that claims everyone is created equal.

How something so manifestly wrong can end up as a credo for a whole civilization is beyond me. We are not equal (thank god)!!! We look different we have different talents and intelligence, different likes and dislikes, different needs, so why are we surprised by the fact that we have different outcomes.

Note that the statement in the declaration is not a recommendation, i.e. create a system where everybody is equal. It is, rather, an assertion of fact. The statistics you quote obviously prove that assertion false. If everybody is created equal and always has been, then, you would expect the results to be pretty equal - after all we're all playing in this field called earth.

So what's happened is that the obviously wrong assertion has been turned into a recommendation. If we're not all equal, then let's do whatever we can to force people to be equal. The first consequence of this action is loss of freedom, because, to keep joe from getting ahead of mike you need to use some involuntary means to hold joe back.

An immediate consequence of this loss of freedom is the inability to pursue your happiness - the more your choices are limited, the less opportunity you have to follow your dream.

The third consequence is poverty - equal poverty. Why this is so should be obvious. It's impossible to turn a homeless guy into a bill gates, but with sufficient theft and shackles , transforming bill into a depressed, homeless, bum is doable. So if you want equality you got to do what's feasible, which is make the rich poor.

The fourth consequence of equality is societal failure. A society based on equality will eventually be overrun by one based on reality - i.e, people are not equal - vive la difference! Communism vs capitalism is a perfect real life example. Theoretically it is an obvious outcome of the third consequence above. Societies based on equality will end up poor and unable to defend themselves.

There's a lot more I could say on the topic, but this is already too long. I just want to close by pointing out that the european example you gave is only a partial and temporary picture and it only looks good from afar. Europe is quickly heading toward poverty, exactly because of their strong egalitarian bent. They may already be beyond rescue in the short term. Germany, France, Italy are all scrambling to pull themselves from the brink by passing (trying to) laws that will significantly reduce the welfare (theft) state. Of course they're getting tremendous resistance from the "poor" people. It'll be interesting to see whether the poor succeed in making themselves even poorer.

Maybe next time we can talk about another liberal misconception - the fiction that economics is a zero sum game. That the bill gates of the world have taken a huge chunk from the common pool, rather than the reality, which is that he has created wealth and filled the pool with contributions. What he has kept for himself he created - he didn't steal it from anyone. In fact the gates, ellisons and jobs of the world have created more billionaires, millionaires, and just plain well-off people than the government has ever done in its role as robbin' hood.

Boy, I sure went on - I couldn't resist a "teaching moment", though.