Thank you for a very insightful exposition.

In the contest between liberty and equality (fraternity apparently being a non-starter), one case to be made is that equality generates the maximum liberty that co-existing people can share. That’s because it implies an ethic of mutual respect (of a basic kind — taking one another into account).

That kind of mutual respect is in fact the ethic that governs democracy as we know it: all citizens are affected by the choices effected in the political process, so all have the right to be taken into account in that process (speak, peaceably assemble, petition the government). The rights to vote and run for office are restricted, but legitimate restrictions are determined by the respect for all implied by equality.

I have learned (including an M.A. in economics) that the ‘democratic distributive principle’ can be efficaciously applied to money, in the form of a “democratically distributed income.” The results for society are astonishing.

If your curiosity exceeds your skepticism, “Equality is All We Need” is here in Medium. Beyond that lies “A Fully Just Economy,” in which that income is extended to eliminate ‘wage slavery’ [paying people to be used — employed — as machines (or draft animals) for the monetary gain of the employer]. There would still be no limit on how much income or wealth a person could obtain.