Let's all be poor
Ron Bailey
writes about the importance of envy and rank. Titled "Burn the Rich," he argues that socialism is natural as people want to level out differences in wealth. Well-I kind of agree. While liberals want to even out economic differences, conservatives want to homogenize society so everyone can be equally bored. Anyone who's read a little sociobiology understand that "punishment" (tit-for-tat) is an important regulatory mechanism in social organization. What's scary is when someone get's a hold of the ability to punish others-and therefore increase their position by tearing someone else down.
Rather than admire success-people envy it. This might explain why there's a conservative-liberal dichotomy in the mainstream political culture, both from my perspective collectivist movements (the latter more so-but only by a few degrees and only at this moment in history), even though a large portion of the public will express libertarian sentiments.