One of Barack Obamas notable quotes from a few years back was one stating that America had to leave the failed policies of the past" and adopt forward thinking ideas that would bring real improvement to American society. He then proceeded to implement the same failed policies which it appears Hillary Clinton will also push should America have the misfortune to elect her in 2016.
The failed policies" in question are not something new. They have been around for centuries and more than centuries. Perhaps the first occasion when they failed was when Plato proposed what one author described as ant-like" communism in The Republic. Completely misnamed Platos Republic was anything but if we define a republic as a representative democracy. There is a story probably apocryphal that one Greek city was actually persuaded to attempt creating a political system with Plato in charge following his model with disastrous results. Whether or not this is true is irrelevant to one fact; all political systems that followed in the wake of his model eschewing liberty for centralized authoritarian control have in the end failed to achieve anywhere near as well as a society based on liberty.
The most recent examples were the 20th century experiments in communism" by Soviet Russia and the Peoples Republic" of China. Neither prospered. The PRC eventually abandoned collectivism in favor of allowing private property and became a much more dynamic economy albeit not as much as is might because the powers in charge refused to give up their absolute authority. China has made great strides but still holds itself back from what it might become.
But more to the point the political left in modern America has consistently pushed for the same centralized authoritarian systems that have failed in the past. And this is what American politics has devolved into. A system at war over whether it should go forward with liberty or backwards with authoritarianism. At issue are the principles of the American Founding; principles that center on the fact that liberty is not guaranteed from generation to generation and that it requires an active involved and aware body politic to maintain itself. This is central to the present state of affairs in America. Our body politic has devolved into an unaware and largely intentionally ignorant body that pays little attention to what is going on around it and which votes according to social pressure or on the recommendations of popular media instead of according to facts and enlightened self-interest. Thus it becomes a fertile ground for people who seek dominion over others and are completely willing to use age-worn excuses to do so.
One of the popular excuses today is the oft-repeated buzz phrase with the political left is social justice." It is an appealing notion but has nothing to do with justice despite its common linkage with another of the modern buzzwords which is fairness." We might well ask the question of what fairness is particularly since it seems to have undergone some significant changes in recent years.
Fairness as a concept may lie in giving each person his due which stems from the natural rights theory of justice as found in Kantian ethics. Thus we can assert that if someone invents a new technology that revolutionizes the environment in a positive way then that person should be able to reap the fruits of that discovery. Someone who invents cold fusion" would under this theory be entitled to tremendous wealth as compensation for the great benefit conferred on humanity.
Instead of that view the social justice" and fairness" school of thought asserts that the wealth of society should be divided up equally regardless of the merit or productivity of its individual members. Thus resources and wealth should be divided up rather like the birthday cake at a childs party where everyone has to receive approximately the same amount so no one feels slighted. Such measures are necessary with children whose lack of maturity requires them to receive equal" shares. Thus the advocates of social justice" assert that adults are the equivalent of children and unable to accept anything other than the equal division of resources.
Of course within the confines of a leftists political / social system as George Orwell would put it some people are more equal than others therefore the political elite class will make sure that they get much more of what they want then the ordinary person who can only expect the same amount as everyone else. The rules of social justice" reach only so far. One could compare it to the conditions in medieval Europe when the serfs were taxed to pay for the lifestyle of royalty and expected to revel in what their work had provided to others.
In fact the average adult who learns adult behavior has no problem with unequal distribution of economic assets. It is only those who are taught to have a massive chip on their shoulders who see for example the incidents in Ferguson MO and Baltimore MD as excuses to loot and burn. This is learned behavior promoted by the left as a means of securing more power for themselves by using such violent episodes as an excuse for greater levels of social intervention.
Todays Democrat Party is the embodiment of this problem touting the supposed fairness of their social justice" agenda as a means to greater power. Various member of the Republican Party have become enablers as they refuse to confront this negative agenda perhaps because they seek to obtain the power for themselves. In any event the present political agenda; the anti-liberty agenda is a repeat of failed policy at least as far as the average citizen is concerned. It is not a failed policy for the political elite class as it is a means to cement their power over society at large more firmly. The creation of ever larger and more powerful governmental agencies beholden and loyal only to those elites is their key to control of society as the citizen becomes enmeshed in a web of regulations that will trap everyone for some violation no matter the effort to avoid one.
The fraud of social justice" and fairness" are mere excuses for controlling a society that is capable of controlling itself. But only if it is aware that it must do so.
