The evidence has been conclusive from time immemorial.

Economic systems flourish with private incentives that gratify the innate craving for material acquisitions. Adam Smith called it an “invisible hand” in his landmark “The Wealth of Nations,” gospel for the nation’s founders. Merchants or professionals can become rich only by satisfying the wants of others by offering goods or services at prices they are willing to purchase. Private greed converges with public good — a convergence which finds expression in capitalism.

Economic systems that pivot on an alleged philanthropic eagerness to share invariably shipwreck in poverty and misery. The laborer’s refrain in the old Soviet Union was, “We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us.” Utopian communities in the United States like Brook Farm became unglued because the industrious refused to let the idle sponge off their labor.

Conservatives believe if everyone works all day for themselves there will be ample surplus to support the congenitally disadvantaged. Liberals would rather spend all day deciding how to divide the economic pie perfectly and starve to death.

Wealth is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Google was started in a garage in Menlo Park, California. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg were dropouts. Booker T. Washington was born a slave.

Americans have become lazy and effete. They need to be reminded that we did not win our independence with summer soldiers or sunshine patriots. The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence signed their own death warrants if the mighty British Empire prevailed. Undaunted, they mutually pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Americans should not gripe, whine or complain until they have done likewise.

We have all won lottery tickets living in the United States. With the internet, we all have free access to an Ivy League college education. We can download, read and digest great books with a handful of keystrokes. The opportunity to hone writing skills is with us every hour of every day. If you squander your time on TikTok, Taylor Swift concerts or keeping up with movie stars, don’t blame others for your impoverishment or unhappiness. Anyone can prosper by mastering the arts of communication free on the internet. Most immigrants come to the United States to do jobs that Americans are unqualified or too indolent to do.

American youths are inclined toward socialism because they are ignorant of both the lamp of experience and human nature. They prefer to live in a fantasy world where everyone is above average, to borrow from Garrison Keillor, and altruism is the coin of the realm. They lack the courage to see the world as it really is.

Maturity will naturally change their minds. As Winston Churchill reportedly said to that effect, “If a man is not a socialist at age 20, he has no heart. If he is not conservative at age 40, he has no head.”

Capitalism does not give birth to a perfect world. No system does because mankind is made of crooked timber. Inequalities not based on merit will persist. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our place of birth. We do not all begin life at the same starting line. But capitalism does more to diminish these inescapable inequalities than socialism. The latter entrusts destiny to the government. And the government always acts with ulterior political motives that favor the politically powerful over the politically weak. You will find the greatest economic inequality where the government calls all the shots — North Korea, Iran, Russia and China. There is a reason why none of these countries have an immigration issue. Nobody with any industry or ambition wants to live there.

Time will teach youth that good should not be sacrificed on the altar of the perfect.

Armstrong Williams (www.armstrongwilliams.com; @arightside) is a political analyst, syndicated columnist and owner of the broadcasting company, Howard Stirk Holdings. He is also part owner of The Baltimore Sun.