An explanation of Social Justice and how it would not work in America by Michael Maier
(libertarian)
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Social justice is, in my opinion, a joke. Some cry that life is unfair and that social justice would make things better. I will enjoy being the pin to burst the fantasy bubble; life is unfair. As a rather cynical friend has said on several occasions, "Life is a sexually transmitted disease, with a 100 percent fatality rate." When put that way, anything else just seems to be a bargain deal. If life is unfair, ask yourself why. This will require that you look into yourself and chances are that you'll find that the problem isn't others, but rather it is yourself that is the problem, in addition to anybody that tells you that you'll never succeed. Social justice won't solve the problem; it will just spread the misery.
I'll save you some of the basic research and explain what I've found, but it'll be up to you to continue the research for your personal enlightenment. As the foundation, I have from Wikipedia an explanation of social justice, with some of my personal comments as examples.
In the context it is being used today, social justice uses progressive taxes (our current U.S. Tax Code), income redistribution (primarily Welfare), and property redistribution (the abused Eminent Domain)that would bring along a greater degree of economic egalitarianism.
.I had to look up egalitarianism, so we shall proceed to the next level with the online dictionary: Merriam Webster.
Egalitarianism: 1) a belief in human equality and economic affairs
2) A social philosophy advocating the removal of inequalities among people.
I took this to the final stage of my basic research and went online to Encyclopedia Britannica. The online encyclopedia didn't have egalitarianism per se, instead it gave me egalit.
The second generation of economic, social, and cultural rights originated primarily in the socialist tradition, which was foreshadowed among adherents of the Saint Simonian movement of early 19th century France and variously promoted by revolutionary struggles and welfare movements that have taken place since. In large part, it is a response to the abuses of capitalist development and its underlying and essentially uncritical conception of individual liberties, which tolerated, and even legitimized, the exploitation of working classes and colonial peoples.
With this in mind, shouldn't any political supporter of social justice be willing to have their pay and health care cut in order to be equal to what the working class people earn in pay and pay in health care? This would prove that they are true supporters of social justice and are not willing to be exploiters of the working class. This would also prove to be less of a financial burden to the working class taxpayer that provides the politicians and union leaders their paychecks and health care benefits through taxes and union dues paid. The rough average working/middle class income is in the range of 40 thousand and 100 thousand dollars per year, depending on where in America you live, and if you're married or not. Given this rough amount, not only would politicians and union leaders be more interested in actually helping the people they are supposed to represent but a lot of money would be saved in the process. This, however, isn't possible because they have become too used to the money, power and lifestyle they have to give it up. With this in mind, social justice applies to everybody else, but not the leaders that "support" it.
I think that the problem that many people have is that they cannot control every aspect of others lives. They also have a problem with anybody who applies themselves and succeeds in life. Those that complain don't push themselves to rise above the noise of discontent because they have bought into the lies that others state, that they cannot or will never succeed, that they will be stuck in that situation for the rest of their lives. One cannot coast through life expecting everything to be handed to them on a silver platter; it simply doesn't work that way. Life will always be unfair, a brown noser will get the job you worked harder for, or a child will get cancer and die. Some things you cannot control, but for the things that you can, then the points in life that are unfair can be minimized through patience and hard work.
Did you like this article? If you did, Thumb It! 5
thumbs so far
The views expressed
in this article are those of Michael Maier only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
Michael Maier is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
"In the context it is being used today, social justice uses progressive taxes (our current U.S. Tax Code), income redistribution (primarily Welfare), and property redistribution (the abused Eminent Domain)that would bring along a greater degree of economic egalitarianism."
To me, your quote is the definition of social injustice, not justice.
you seem to dwell on the "social welfare" aspect of the wealth distribution when the greater percentage is "economic welfare", often to those who already possess great wealth.
While this is true, take out my comments in parenthesis, and it is the Wikipedia description of social justice. I've read about a dozen other websites with the description similarly worded over the last couple days, and it is amazing that people don't consider the aspects of injustice when looked at in a way: the Tax Code, Welfare and Eminent Domain are but a small portion of the things used to justify social justice.
Should I condem those who posess great wealth or should I strive to push myself to become one of them? Like the Army television slogan, be all that you can be. If my goal is to be financially wealthy, I am not going to feel guilty when I attain it. I pushed myself to get it. and it is therefore mine. It is by my choice alone if I want to donate money to charity, but I should not be forced to do it. Also, how many of those pushing the social justice retoric already have great wealth and refuse to give it up because it wouldn't be fair to them?
To quote myself: "With this in mind, social justice applies to everybody else, but not the leaders that "support" it."
Eminent domain is a metaphor for the age we live in -- with the governing class intent on "taking" assets from citizens in many forms. Because eminent domain can only happen under the badge of government.
What property owners are seeing across the country is that the notion of "public good" is corrupted in today's interpretation of eminent domain; plus the fact that there is a lot of play in the "just" of just compensation. This goes beyond theory; it is happening.
New York and Pennsylvania, among other states, will see more eminent domain "takings" thanks to the rising interest in natural gas drilling in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale. With more drilling comes more pipelines and more underground gas storage fields -- and that (pipelines & storage fields) always means eminent domain.
The excellent Institute for Justice (of Kelo fame) declines to intervene in energy/utility "takings" because, they told me, of the "public good" premise.
But property owners can fight back. Our two-year battle against Houston-based Spectra Energy which seized our property rights for an underground gas storage field led to the development of a website which has begun to attract whistle blowers inside the energy industry. We are collaborating and helping property owners in many states. For info, visit the site: http://www.spectraenergywatch.com/blog/
By the way, our new neighbor, Spectra Energy, has received two Notice of Violations for "unlawful conduct" related to emergency shutdowns and emissions at its storage field in Bedford County, PA. Reports of contaminated water supplies are on the rise since they began operations.
The ripple effects of eminent domain are never over.
Want to comment on
this article? Leave your comment
here. Your email address is required to track your
comment. However, we will neither publish your email
address nor distribute it to other organizations or
persons. The only reason we might use it would be if
we needed to contact you regarding your comment. All
comments are subject to our
terms of use policy.
