Agreed completely that land is hugely advantageous in agrarian society, yes. Here's the thing though- landowners don't just own land. They receive disproportio

Agreed completely that land is hugely advantageous in agrarian society, yes. Here's the thing though- landowners don't just own land. They receive disproportionate profits and dividends from charging others for the use of that land. They (broadly speaking) collect rent, which they can then use to build schools, pay teachers, build banks, collect interest, so on and so forth. The descendants of landowners have the most resources, which allow them to get the best education, the best skills, the best referrals, the best jobs, best networks. In land-scarce Singapore, for instance, about 50% of top students in primary school come from families who own landed property- the elites, who make up about 16% of the population. It's wonderful that commoners can now also compete- a man like Barack Obama could become President- but there's still a long way to go. That said, "America is further from that ideal than almost any other place in the world" strikes me as rather... naive? There are more than 6.5 billion people outside America, and there are still people with no access to schooling whatsoever, no basic literacy, etc.