Communism proved that even under a supposedly equal system, some are always "more equal" than others and use secret police and gulags to enforce their will. Also, it proved that most people won't do more than the bare minimum of you give them income that's divorced from their effort. In short, striving for equality is rooting for a system that brings everyone down to a far lower standard of living than most poor people have in a vibrant economy. Instead, we should have a system in place that rewards innovation and hard work, but doesn't allow insane differences in compensation like we currently have. If only our tax code didn't allow the super wealthy to pay lower taxes than their modestly paid staff, we might get there.