Friday, July 23, 2010

No. 19: Fairness

Over the next few weeks I will be performing my own little political countdown. It's more for my amusement than anything else, but I also feel that it's a good way to glimpse into the mind of the average Liberal. Such humorous creatures these Liberals, and yet so mysterious. This is my list of the top 20 things Liberals don't believe. We'll say it's in the interest of understanding one another.

I remember growing up and playing many backyard baseball games. Despite their benign appearance, these games were often hotly contested. There are few things more competitive than preteen boys seeking neighborhood bragging rights. Despite the heated competition, the contests were remarkably civil. The rules were followed and there were few arguments. However, on occasion the issue of fairness would come up and it was usually out of frustration. The scene would play out something like this…the game is tied, it’s been a tough back-and-forth, both teams are playing hard. Suddenly one kid belts a homer over the fence to win the game. A kid on the other team, upset about losing, throws his glove to the ground and yells “that’s not fair, you cheated”. Of course we all knew that kid was full of it. The game was won fairly, there were no rules broken, he was just mad because he lost. Yet, that didn’t stop him from claiming injustice. Such is the perception in the mind of a child and a full-grown Liberal.

Sound familiar? Number 19 on my list of things Liberals don’t believe is Fairness.

When I talk about fairness in this post I am talking about it in its truest form. I clarify this because Liberals love to use fairness as a rallying cry for their platform. Fairness is a major motivator for them. They seek fairness. They impose laws to achieve fairness. They speak of fairness whenever they can. They use it to appeal to average voters because all common sense Americans are for fairness. The problem is they define fairness in a completely different manner. It has a different meaning to them. So when I say Liberals don’t believe in fairness I mean fairness as a typical common sense American would define it, not as a Liberal would define it.

Injustice is defined, in part, as the violation of the rights of others. Fairness is defined, in part, as being free from injustice. If the rights of others are violated it is unjust, and if injustice exists then it cannot be fair. Sounds simple enough. Well, not according to Liberals. Simplicity is not their forte. We’ll start with the tax system.

The Constitution guarantees equal protection for all citizens. One person’s rights cannot be violated for the sake of another person’s rights, and all of our rights bare equal standing under the law regardless of who or what we are. So a common sense American would say that a fair tax system would be one in which all Americans paid the same percentage of their income to the government, or perhaps would be based on consumption rather than income. In such a scenario, I would pay something like 20% in federal income taxes, my neighbor would pay twenty percent, so would the guy down the street and the guy on the other side of town. Nothing would change that number. If my income went up, I would pay 20%. If my income went down, I would pay 20%. That’s fair.

Not so in the mind of Liberals. The Liberal says that everyone paying the same percentage is completely unfair, thus rewriting the definition of fairness altogether. In their minds if I make $1 million and my neighbor makes $10,000 then a fair tax system would be one structured so that after taxes we both end up with, say, fifty thousand bucks. That’s fair. Never mind all that injustice stuff. They understand that I have the right to pursue more income so long as I do it legally. And they understand that the Constitution doesn’t allow me to be singled out and taxed more severely simply because I am more successful in my pursuits and make more money than my neighbor. Singling me out based upon my success would violate my right to equal protection and thus would be unjust, and by definition unfair. Imposing higher percentage taxation on someone based upon success is discriminatory. So what? Say the Libs. Fairness in their eyes can only be defined by outcomes, not by the means in achieving those outcomes. It’s only fair if we all end up with equal amounts of stuff regardless of effort, talent or skill, so sayeth the social justice doctrine.

But the concept of fairness in Liberal minds goes way beyond taxation and redistribution of wealth. They’ve even titled one of their key pieces of legislation the Fairness Doctrine to echo their never ending pursuit of fairness. This law basically states that any political or news program must present both sides of a political argument so the people can hear the whole story. Equal time. That’s fair. And if you don’t comply then you can’t use the airwaves. You can be shut down. That’s fair.

The common sense American knows about freedom speech. We know we have the right to free speech, specifically the right to speak our political opinions without punitive government action. If we speak our political opinion and the government takes action to silence us then our rights have been violated. Violation of rights is unjust and thus, by definition, unfair. Hogwash, say the Liberals. Equal time is fair, even if you don’t want to hear the buffoon who lacks common sense, and even if we shut down the radio station for refusing to air that buffoon’s opinion. It’s fair. That’s why we call it the Fairness Doctrine. It’s a wonder they don’t call our graduated income tax the Fairness Tax.

Thomas Sowell said (loosely quoting) that few things have been as damaging as the word “fair”.

George Washington said that we are a nation of laws not of men. Ooh, the Liberals hate that.

We Americans know all about fairness. Our nation was founded on it. “All men are created equal…” were the words used to announce our new nation. We know fair when we see it. They can use the word all they want in attempts to deceive us, and they no doubt do so because they know how appealing fairness is to America. But don’t be deceived. There is nothing truly fair about the Liberal agenda, no matter how much they say so.

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