“I am not trying to relieve others by putting a burden on you; but since you have plenty at this time, it is only fair that you should help those who are in need. Then, when you are in need and they have plenty, they will help you. In this way both are treated equally.”
– II Corinthians 8:13-14 (Good News translation)

Let’s call it “access equality.” Let’s say “access equality” looks like this:

Everyone puts a portion of their money into a community pot to pay for the things and services that an average person couldn’t pay for alone – things that the community needs to function and prosper, and things individuals need to stay alive: roads, bridges, highways, fire departments, police departments, tools and personnel for military defense, schools and teachers, hospitals and doctors and health care, etc.

Let’s say that the people who have more money contribute more to the pot, and the people who have less money contribute less. In other words – if you’re Stephen Schwartzman who created the investment group Blackstone and you’re making $253,000,000 a year (by investing other people’s money) or Mary Barra (CEO of General Motors) who makes $28,979,570 a year doing whatever it is CEOs do, you put more into the pot than the General Motors auto worker making $60,000 a year.

Let’s say that as part of this “Access Equality” system we all understand that even if we, individually, don’t have need at the moment of a fireperson or a police officer or a trip to the doctor, others in our community do and that our world/community/family functions best when everyone has access to the basic things and services they need to stay alive.

Let’s say that our collective goal as a nation is to help one another, rather than to compete to see who can acquire the most wealth.

Wouldn’t that be a good thing?