Originally Posted by u-Bob

It's impossible to "level the playing field" simply because we are all individuals. We are all different. And we all grow up in different environments. We all grow up amongst people who are individuals themselves (and thus all different). Every individual has his own strengths and weaknesses, goals, hopes, dreams, fears, preferences, abilities etc.

Some see opportunities where others don't. Some like to eat hamburgers, others prefer steak. Some like expensive jewelry, others prefer shells from the beach. Some like working outdoors, other hate the rain/wind/cold. Some like to spend a lot of time with their families, others prefer to focus on other things. Some like to travel and explore the world, others prefer to stay at home.

The whole egalitarian notion of equality and leveling the playing field either ignores some of the basic facts of life or is an excuse used by envious people to commit heinous acts of aggression.

Or as Rothbard put it:

The diversity of mankind is a basic postulate of our knowledge of human beings. But if mankind is diverse and individuated, then how can anyone propose equality as an ideal? Every year, scholars hold Conferences on Equality and call for greater equality, and no one challenges the basic tenet. But what justification can equality find in the nature of man? If each individual is unique, how else can he be made 'equal' to others than by destroying most of what is human in him and reducing human society to the mindless uniformity of the ant heap?
-Murray N. Rothbard