The Social Justice Chimera

by Herbert I. London
November 9, 2009 at 5:30 am

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/907/the-social-justice-chimera

Recently I heard people speaking of social justice with remarkable sincerity -- but what is it?

From The Reverend Al Sharpton to the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, social justice has come to means redressing the wrongs of the past in the form of government benefits or reparations. The expression has a hint of retribution, as in “you owe us.” There are always people with grievances, some justified, some not , and as long as the government attempts to satisfy them, the cry for social justice will have irresistable appeal.

But the words haven’t any real meaning. Justice is rarely social unless, of course, it is categorical as was the case with the Holocaust. In most instances, justice is personal: seeking retribution for a contractual violation. Even if one were to attempt to redress the evil of slavery, how would one do so? Not every black person in the United States is a child of slavery. Moreover, people do not live in slavery - here at any rate - and race no longer need be a barrier to success as President Obama and a host of corporate leaders demonstrate.

The expression leads to confusion and discontent. There are principles on which the nation rests, such as the rule of law, respect for private property, free expression and individual rights. But social justice is not among them, even though the subject of slavery ensures its place in the contemporary protest movement.

For many, social justice is a form of egalitarianism: Why should so few have so much and so many so little? This is the fairness argument. Overlooked is that the individualism on which this nation has put a premium is often at odds with economic equality. If people are free to pursue their goals, some are likely to be more successful than others.

The government has attempted to legislate a form of egalitarianism through progressive taxation. But even with a progressive tax designed to reduce the wealth of the most successful Americans, income disparity cannot be eliminated. Unless you change human nature and incentives, as the Soviet Union unsuccessfully attempted, economic equality (read: social justice) is unattainable.

“Progressives” are said to want to gain control of the state to bring about social justice. However, whenever this effort has been successful, the progressives (or radicals) end up rewarding themselves and impoverishing those they claim to represent. Poor people are invariably vulnerable to this political protest chant, but most know that it is a fiction borne of demagoguery.

Life is not fair - an observation everyone understands intuitively. The rich want something they cannot buy and the poor want what the rich have. If there is such a thing as psychic justice, it is found in religion where every believer is equal in God’s eyes. But in the City of Man, social justice is a chimera, often sought but impossible to attain.

Perhaps it is time to put an end to this notion, bury it deep in the past, although this is not likely to occur when so many people are committed to holding onto the wish for social justice. .

This is the lament of our age, a chant of frustration and desire. As long as governments seek to address this apparent concern manifest as passion, there will be reinforcement for these empty words. Listen carefully and you will hear the words “social justice” at any protest rally -- an ideology of things.

Herbert London is president of Hudson Institute and professor emeritus of New York University. He is the author of Decade of Denial (Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2001) and America's Secular Challenge (Encounter Books).

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