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It is interesting to note that proponents of free market capitalism are also proponents of wealth redistribution as moral imperative; they just prefer the market instead of the government as the main conduit of redistribution.
In any case, wealth redistribution to me isn't a matter of morals (at least not primarily), but a matter of social stability. Obviously, it would be great if everyone could be a prototypical Horatio Alger. But that's impossible. Sometimes, the cost of doing business is making sure that the people you got over on have enough so that they don't feel compelled to take your shit directly. If you think you feel bad looking at the taxes taken out of your paycheck, imagine how positively down you'd feel if the mass of poor folks in this country actually revolted.
There is much more to picking one's self up by one's bootstraps (besides an ironic violation of the laws of physics). Luck is just as important as effort when fate decides who is going to be rich and who isn't. Hard work can only get you so far. I think that people who subscribe to the idea of the noble bootstrapper are caught up in some sort of self serving fantasy about a just market. The market isn't just. Wealth redistribution at its best attempts to correct for market shortcomings.
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