Dear Friends,
It seems to me that the concept of Equality is not the same as Social Justice. In fact the term social justice is the antithesis of equality, social justice requiring inequality to function, moreover equality is an intrinsic quality and social justice an extrinsic quality.
The concept of Equality is an intrinsic quality because it pertains to intrinsic metalaws, like; equality in worth, equality in law, equality in existence and so forth. The intrinsic nature of equality, is such that, it is a non excludable social good, like a road. This non excludable social good, that is equality, brings us a whole basket of goods not the least of which is an expanding standard of living for the people. This is the very nature of Equality. Social Justice is extrinsic in that it is interested in extrinsic qualities like, income, positions, property ownership and ownership of the means of production.
Social Justice is the antithesis of Equality in that the very concept of Social Justice not only requires inequality but vociferously demands it! That people not only should be treated differently by government, but must be. Those people the communist deems as having too much, (excluding the communist himself), are to be subjected to all nature of harm social, economic and personal. In this trial, the progressive is the judge the socialist is the prosecutor and the communist is the accuser, how can such a trial be anything but fair? Social Justice requires that the goods of society are distributed by politics. It’s very nature lowers the lot of Mankind.
As the requisite of social justice is political preference so it lowers the standard of living for the people. The Elite’s standard of living skyrockets however. Talk about the “gap between the rich and the poor” look at North Korea, now there, there is a gap! The people starve while the Elite feast. How about the glorious example of the Soviet Union? Tens of Millions of people starved to death… intentionally, to industrialize the “Workers Republic.” That is the very nature of Social Justice, poverty and starvation. Ask China.
Equality has side effects however, one is Liberty. In a republic where there is Equality there is also Liberty. Liberty requires people who have self control; people who are self interested, rightly understood, or put another way, Rational Maximisers. Liberty quickly falls to tyranny where the people act like animals. Machiavelli said it best when he said, “A corrupt people can never be free.” But why does Equality beget Liberty that requires virtuous people?
Equality and liberty, put this way, must make people more civilized and less barbaric. If we examine the subject we see that where people are treated equally and as adults, we act like adults and act equitably, but where people are treated like children and unequally we act like children and are inequitable to others. Think of it this way, If someone treats you like a child scolding you and controlling you… you, and I, and everyone else, want to escape, but if we are stymied our increasingly frantic attempts appear to be childish. We all act as we are acted on. Equitably or inequitably.
So we have established that in a society or community where people are entitled to Equality under law, socially and economically, Liberty is close at hand, but how does Equality beget a higher standard of living? Forgetting, for a moment, that Liberty is a higher standard of living than tyranny, Liberty also has the side effect of unleashing people.
The Human being is remarkable. We are capable of so much if we are so motivated and are allowed. The human being unleashed from the shackles of tyranny in all it’s ugly forms is not only self sufficient but is able to create more than he or she needs. One of the fundamental qualities of human beings is that we all want to be comfortable, we want nice things and we want our health. Universally if someone didn’t want good health we would say that something is wrong with his head. If we are given liberty, we naturally create a better standard of living for ourselves, much better than a State could ever provide. Self sufficiency is begotten from Liberty and liberty from equality.
We see, historically and empirically, that wherever social justice is enacted the standard of living erodes and where equality is approached the standard of living rises… so why do you suppose anti capitalists tout social justice and mime equality so?
