"When poor people are a tiny voting bloc, the interests of poor people are especially poorly represented."

LOL. Give me that kind of problem, please.

"Perhaps a small amount of equality can be traded for some efficiency by folding the sheet into a paper airplane."

Brilliant.

Lorraine, you raise some good issues but I think Brin might say something like this: Diamonds can vary in the ratio of their width and height. That ratio should reflect the Gini coefficient that is desired. As the height decreases the flatness of the diamond approaches a plane, the Gini coefficient approaches zero, and David Brin approaches Lorraine.