Last week Inside Tucson Business carried a column by one David R. Francis, billed as a nationally syndicated commentator on finance and government issues. I rather fancy myself as doing the same sort of thing except I am not syndicated right now. My reaction to Francis’ column was so strong, I feel compelled to share it with you.

The headline was "Obama’s budget would help restore income equality." I must agree with the gentleman on that point, but that is where our agreement ends.

Francis seems to think income equality is a good thing. I do not. Allow me to use myself as an example here rather than an anonymous composite person. I have always striven to excel, to do better than my neighbor. I don’t want my income equalized to more closely approach that of my slothful neighbor, the drunk down the street, the undereducated fellow around the corner who sweeps up things for a living. While those fine people were out earning a living, I went on to get more education. For seven more years I was paying for that education, foregoing the income I could have earned. Should I have to count on my government to be certain that I don’t earn too much more than the neighbors I mentioned?

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Francis seems to think so. Obama’s budget would spread the wealth around, mostly redistributing it "down the income ladder." Recognizing that the increase in the income at the bottom of his income ladder would be marginal, barely affecting the lifestyle of the poor and obscure, he subscribes to the theory enunciated by Peter Diamond, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who said, "Every step in the right direction is a step in the right direction." I love a tautology as much as the next person, but they shed very little light on the subject. I trust Diamond has a better way with technology than he does with words.

Of course, I have been comparing myself to my less industrious neighbors. Let’s compare to my better-remunerated cohorts. Consider the famous Ty Warner. He’s the guy who invented Beanie Babies. Not exactly polio vaccine, but enough to afford him a $40 million penthouse apartment.

And let us examine David R. Francis himself. He writes an opinion column and has it distributed by the Christian Science Monitor news service. I don’t know how many newspapers carry his columns, but presumably each one pays him based roughly on their circulation. I write an opinion column like this one for Inside Tucson Business. They pay me for the contribution, but they are a single publication. I think it is fair to say Francis gets paid a lot more for the same amount of work than I do. Does this situation demand intervention by my benevolent and paternalistic government to make our incomes more equal? No. If Francis has been successful, for whatever reason, in syndicating his writings, he has earned his presumably greater remuneration. It’s none of my business or that of the government.

We see the spectacle lately, of the Obama administration and the Congress running out of control, ignoring the Constitution and doing whatever they think is expedient to achieve their purposes. I feel strongly that their purposes do not coincide with the purposes of most of the American people. Oh there are plenty of people willing to take a little largess from the government and not ask where it came from. If it were some gang thug doing the redistribution, such people would be receivers of stolen property. But since it’s the government, it’s just fine.

It has been said that he who robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul. That is what they are counting on. Making the taxes more progressive robs the more successful Peter to pay the less successful Paul.

Income equality is a perverse incentive that penalizes those who have achieved enviable success. But envy is an unworthy sentiment leading to bad effects. Someone else’s success should motivate one’s own efforts, not set him plotting how to get the fruits of someone else’s labor.

I don’t want to be equal. I want to be better. I hope some day to be syndicated and make the big money like David R. Francis. His success inspires me. I wish him still more.

Contact Lionel Waxman at territorial@waxmanmedia.com or visit his website: www.waxmanmedia.com. Lionel Waxman’s Flashpoint commentaries are published in The Daily Territorial.