Luck or Work?

What determines destiny? Is it Luck? Is it Hard Work? A combination of the two? This is the question Matt Miller takes in his column today, over at the New York Times.

Obviously this is a false choice; every life is a blend of both. We're born with certain endowments, and make the most of them (or don't) based on personal traits. But if you had to say which one matters most in shaping where people end up, how many of you would join me in answering "luck"?

In a poll I commissioned a few years ago, people who call themselves liberals or Democrats overwhelmingly said luck; most conservatives or Republicans said individual effort.

But if you're hoping to shake up today's gridlocked politics, what's interesting is that independent voters - now the nation's biggest bloc - viewed luck the way Democrats do.

It's an interesting argument. I've noted the core of it myself. Conservatives demean any talk of luck or class playing a role in success as class warfare or not trusting that the poor can make it on their own. Anyway well worth check out.