ABSTRACT
The Enlightenment strategy of seeking to cure the ills of civilization by abolishing scarcity has consequences—ecological, military, social, political—that might cause a reasonable being to question its wisdom and efficacy. The Keynsian gospel of salvation by economic growth is therefore fallacious: universal affluence will neither solve the “economic problem” nor remedy the defects of human nature. Economic growth has the effect of increasing the extent and impact of relative deprivation by enlarging the scale along which deprivation is measured. Economic growth is therefore not the correct formula for achieving socioeconomic equality. On the contrary, more growth can only make inequality greater, no matter how high it lifts the general level of prosperity. The economic growth that is supposed to make it possible to abolish inequality at last cannot be generated without creating a meritocracy. To be blunt, modern egalitarians have completely misconstrued the ideal of equality.
