Apropos of my previous post, here're a couple of things I'd like to add:
First, to off-post/ off-line questions about why "A level playing field ...[blah]... is the only true path to progress", I have this to say: consider the impact on science, commerce and the arts, if the human capital of a couple of billion people were to be unleashed - a potential energy (which is currently locked up and underdeveloped due to malnutrition/ poor health and lack of access to a decent education and basic infrastructure) going kinetic. Just think about it. That's all.Second, as an afterthought, I'd like to add a fourth reason to the three I listed:
4. Belief (that "it is what it is", and attempting to change it is either a travesty or just plain futile).
The belief that it is a travesty is an extension of Puritanical thought, but is not limited to Puritans alone. There are many in the Eastern hemisphere whose upbringing might have had nothing to do with Puritanism (i.e. the religious denomination) per se but who are Puritans all the same.
Regardless, there is a belief that the right approach is to not level the playing field, but instead, to "make good" through eleemosynary acts. Quite often, this turns out to be insidious as reason #3 (Deliberation) albeit for different reasons. Except in cases where all that caritas manifests in the form of building institutions that work towards long term improvements in infrastructure, education, health-care etc. and towards putting all that within reach of those that don't have access to it presently.
