I arrived at the Pentagon in February 2003. Whenever I could, I followed the official tours, learned every corridor, and later guided colleagues and friends through the building myself. Rank rules the real estate. The highest officials claimed the outside windows on the Potomac side. The office that allocated space sat on the inside ring, looking over the courtyard with its trees, benches, and the five-sided sandwich stand that served a genuinely excellent Philly cheesesteak. Even the people who decided who got the best views kept the second-best for themselves. Power allocates the good stuff. It’s not theory. People do what they do because they want what they want. 

Even socialists are personal capitalists. They talk fairness and the common good. In practice, they gather the most they can for their own families, using political leverage. In East Berlin in 1981, the Party stores were impossible to miss. The select goods were in shops reserved for members and us hard-currency foreigners. More than 90% of the population was locked out. The rhetoric was equality. The reality was a privileged caste.