Authoritarian lawmakers openly want the rich to stay rich and oppose equality.

Evidence

In both the Canadian and the American studies, High RWA lawmakers admitted they opposed greater equality in society. Does that not surprise you? Conservatives will usually say they oppose increased taxes on the wealthy, and on corporations, because such taxes would hurt the economy. They may believe this. And it may be true, for all I know—although the “trickle down” theory was given its chance during the 1980s, and things bubbled upward instead. But Highs’ answers to the Economic Philosophy Scale, their low ranking of Equality in the hodge-podge study, and their responses to the “equality” proposals in the freedom. and equality study, all show that whatever else they may say, these authoritarian legislators want the rich to stay rich, and the rest can divvy up the trickles. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 3731

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: authoritarian personality psychology predicts support for hierarchy/inequality even when legislators frame tax opposition as economic pragmatism.