When it was found that equality before the law has no effect on inequalities of ability and achievement, humanitarians conceded that they had been tricked into asking only part of their just claim. The claim to political equality was then supplemented by the demand for economic democracy, which was to give substance to the ideal of the levelers. Nothing but a despotism could enforce anything so unrealistic, and this explains why modern governments dedicated to this program have become, under one guise and another, despotic. Weaver, Richard M., Ideas Have Consequences, p. 40-41.