Murray Rothbard on group egalitarianism

In this regime of group egalitarianism, it becomes particularly important to take one's place in the ranks of the Oppressed rather than the Oppressors.  Who, then, are the Oppressed?  It is difficult to determine, since new groups of oppressed are being discovered all the time.  One almost longs for the good old days of classic Marxism, where there was only one oppressed class, the proletariat, and one or at most a very few classes of oppressors: the capitalists or bourgeois, plus sometimes the feudal landlords or perhaps the petit bourgeoisie.  But now, as the ranks of the oppressed and therefore the groups specially privileged by society and the State keep multiplying, and the ranks of the oppressors keep dwindling, the problem of income and wealth egalitarianism reappears and is redoubled.  For more and greater varieties of groups are continually being added to the parasitic burden weighing upon an ever-dwindling supply of oppressors.  And since it is obviously worth everyone's while to leave the ranks of the oppressors and move over to the oppressed, pressure groups will increasingly succeed in doing so, so long as this dysfunctional ideology continues to flourish.

Specifically, achieving the label of Officially Oppressed entitles one to share in an endless flow of benefits in money, status, and prestige from the hapless Oppressors, who are made to feel guilty forevermore, even as they are forced to sustain and expand the endless flow.  It is not surprising that attaining oppressed status takes a great deal of pressure and organization.  As Joseph Sobran wittily puts it: it takes a lot of clout to be a victim.  Eventually, if trends continue, the result must be the twin death of parasite and host alike, and an end to any flourishing economy or civilization.

~ Murray Rothbard, "The Menace of Egalitarianism," Rothbard-Rockwell Report, April 1991