“Whatever’s fair” is a common phrase used by folks who are trying to apportion something of value. Fairness is abstract, not concrete. It’s all in the minds of the participants. I can recall trading a silver dollar for a cheap plastic bauble when I was about 5 or 6 years old. My parents were mortified, but at the time I thought the transaction was “fair.” Today…. I have a different view. Fairness is always a matter of perspective. The privileged child, for example, will complain of unfairness when asked to share her or his toys with visiting children. In today’s American culture fairness has come to represent a difficult-to-define form of entitlement.
Another old bromide states “life isn’t fair.” And that’s the truth. Sometimes despite our best efforts and agonizing persistence, things just don’t work out. On the other hand each of us has benefited from some serendipitous occurrence that has brightened our day or lifted our spirits. Life is not fair and certainly not predictable. Those who expect perfect equity in life are doomed to a lifetime of gross disappointment. So…..why is so much government power and government force dedicated to the illusionary concept of fairness? It seems as if whenever our federal government roams beyond its constitutional obligations, it becomes entangled in impossible pie-in-the-sky ventures.
Eliminate poverty? It does have a certain moral ring to it, but “poverty” is relative. If you have a dollar, and I possess ten of them, you are poorer than I am. On the flip side if you have $50 million, and I struggle along with $5 million, I am poorer than you. For more than 45 years the United States government has waged a war on poverty. Yet the percentage of those at the bottom of our economic scale has hovered near 20% for the entire half century. Progressives cry that it’s “unfair” that so many Americans are immersed in such dire circumstances. Yet study after report has indicated that all of our income quintiles (20% portions) are quite mobile. People move out poverty, and others drop in. Maybe the lefties should heed the words of the Lord: Matthew 26:11 reminds us that there are always people who are poor. Government has proven that it is incapable of resolving the issue of economic poverty, but it should never be involved with spiritual poverty. Life is not fair, but spiritual strength will overcome many of the barriers and disadvantages of life’s curveballs.
The word “fair” should be limited to a name or description of an event that includes animals, rides and amusements. It should be stricken from our lexicon of social injustice. Fair is not measurable. Fair is not definable. Fair is not achievable. Using fair to describe relative positions is not fair. It has been a given that when an innocent person is wrongly convicted of a crime it is unfair, but in today’s environment even the guilty claim unfairness for a number of extraneous reasons. We are using the ruse of fairness to excuse all kinds of uncivil and anti-social behavior. Lousy childhoods, poverty and AWOL parents are often cited as unfair elements that “cause” people to behave like social deviants. Nearly every person has some obstacle to overcome. Admittedly some have greater barriers than most, but our national narrative is replete with stories about people who have overcome distressing circumstances and thrived. They beat the fairness game. Fairness or its lack thereof cannot be used as a valid alibi for animalistic behavior. Of course the lack of good parenting does have a negative effect on young people, but that’s not unfair…..that’s life. Get over it. Rise above it. Stop complaining about it. Bad neighborhoods, lousy schools and nasty relatives can all be cited as excuses for uncivil or whining behavior. The ultimate truth is that you and I are responsible for our own circumstances. If the obstacles are huge, we must climb higher. If the opposition is numerous, we must fight longer. If we have been denied and deprived, we must struggle harder to overcome our late starts.
It is really not fair to abuse the word “fair” whenever someone hasn’t gotten their own way. Too many people confuse the term fair with equal, but any reasonable person can understand that equal rarely equals fair. Equality means that everyone is treated exactly the same. Won’t those who have “special needs” or “special circumstances” feel deprived if all are treated precisely the same way? So…logically, fairness requires some discernment and subjective evaluations which in turn lead to errors in judgment and misunderstandings. So…why don’t all of us stop playing footsie with the illusive concept of “fair?” It cannot succeed and any effort to promote fairness will result in a disaster of distorted perceptions. Everyone will be frustrated. The self-defined aggrieved parties will believe themselves short changed and unfairly treated while the other members of the society or community will resent the recipients because of their special treatment. It’s a lose-lose proposition, and we should stop chasing the rainbow of fairness. There is no pot of gold at the end…..just a septic tank of misery.
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Comment
Comment by Barry Gabrielson on April 13, 2012 at 10:18am Fair is a subjective (not objective) word based on ones perception (again subjective) of what deems things that are equal. Therefore, what is fair to one might be unfair to another, based on their own spin and definition of this word.
Progressives have used this word to create hate, anger, resentment, jealousy, animonsity and division among people. This is why we have had wars for thousands of years, leaders teaching their followers that others are 'occupiers" of their wealth, so to make it fair, we must take it from them. They teach their children that life is not fair, that others cause their oppression, not their leaders, but their neighbors who are different.
This adminstration defines the word fair was everyone having the same. That is impossible. We are all different, have different intelligence, looks, abilities, skills, motivation, etc. We are all different, with our own strengths and weaknesses, therefore things can never be equal.
Paying ones "fair share" is one of the great lies of this Adminstration. How does one share equally when it comes to paying for support services (taxes) for teachers, schools, libraries, parks, police, etc? To a progressive, a couple with 3 children who go to public schools, who makes 25K a year while paying zero in taxes for services they use is paying their fair share. The couple down the street with no children paying 150K a year in taxes for support services they dont use is not paying enough in taxes, not paying their fair share. Any moral, logical and ethical person can come to this conclusion that progressives lie. Fairness to a progressive is that those who work hard, get an education, gain skilsl, take risks, achieve, produce must share this with people who dont work, dont achieve, dont get an education, stay home and demand entitlements, its their civil rights for others to take care of them. When demanding a progressive to share a college grade with someone who gained a lesser grade, they cry "Thats not fair, I earned this A, the other did not ". It depends on which side they are on when determining their immoral view of "fairness".
Comment by Brad Myers on April 13, 2012 at 9:53am How appropriate... I just got the following link in my Inbox this morning... This is ABSOLUTELY the Best!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h8O7V-WxWQ&feature=youtu.be
Comment by Debrajoe Smith-Beatty on April 13, 2012 at 9:32am Thanks.Obama's group are useing words that people connect too.
Comment by Troy Kilburn on April 13, 2012 at 9:11am The poor will always be there.
I am over 70 years old and have had ample time to form fairly stable opinions on matters of life. Most people feel sorry for children caught up in poverty for they have no control over their circumstances but about 75% of the time they are there because of poor choices made by one or more of their parents. I can remember few people who were very poor that could not have drastically changed their situation with a simple change in attitude and direction. I am talking about our America. I know from horrible experience that there are places where desperate poverty cannot be escaped. Most of those places are ruled by socialist who got their people there telling them they were going to make everything fair.
I wish Obama would tell me which country he is trying to be like. I have looked for a successful socialist country and have not found one in my history books.
Comment by Thomas on April 13, 2012 at 8:15am True, John Palmer, and apparently in a democratically elected representative government there will always be ample numbers of politicians who find it personally advantageous if they cater to those who game the system and/or vote for a living rather than working productively to earn a living. Then it aw faw down, go boom.
Those aren't chickens coming home to roost. Those are buzzards--circling and waiting for the corpse.
Comment by Thomas on April 13, 2012 at 8:09am The Johnson administration declared a war on poverty then proceeded to load their weapons and opened fire on prosperity, the only logical ally that one could ask for when intending to fight a winning war on poverty.
Just as darkness is the absence of light and cold is the absense of heat, poverty is the absence of prosperity. The only way to win a war on poverty is to employ strategies and tactics that increase prosperity. And get all governments to hell out of the way so the people who are capable of producing prosperity can then be able to wage a winning war on poverty.
Comment by Finnegan's Wakeup on April 13, 2012 at 7:43am I'm thinking you should stop at the point where you say, quite rightfully, that fair does not mean equal.
Most of us have a concept of fairness. It is my sense that the money I earn belongs to me, and that it is not fair for the government to take it and spend it on people who have not worked. It is my sense that it is not fair that my son not get a position because of some racial quota system, when he is the more qualified candidate.
Fairness is a very real human concept. Just don't allow it to become an expectation that everyone will get equal results, regardless of ability, wisdom, and work.
Comment by Ronald Sorrells on April 13, 2012 at 7:42am Charlie Earl:
Good Article ! Very true about the relativity of "Fair".
"Productivity" ! There are people that are "productive". YOU COULD "THROW THEM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT....WITH "NOTHING" AND COME BACK IN 2 YEARS AND THEY WOULD HAVE "EVERYTHING ORGANIZED" (AN OASIS TO DRINK FROM, CAMELS IN THEIR CORRAL, GOATS IN THEIR CORRAL, TENT WITH NO HOLES AND COMFORTABLE TO SLEEP AN STAY "OUT OF THE ELEMENTS". A GARDEN FOR THE PEOPLE EAT FROM, FOOD STORED AND MONEY FROM TRADE AND BARTER.
Then you have others that you "throw out in the desert and like a child...when the available food and provisions expire so do they ! THEY HAVE NO MOTIVATION TO "SAVE" OR "MAKE" ANYTHING. This is why Jesus said the "Poor will always be among us". Jesus was a carpenter and could make and sustain himself and intended for us to do the same. THIS PRINCIPLE WILL NEVER DIE.
MOST OF THE PEOPLE THAT I SEE IN SOUTH ALABAMA HAVE MORE THAN THEY NEED BUT HAVE NO CONCEPT OF BEING "CONSERVATIVE". I see young people riding around in the middle of the day, one BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, HUMVEE, and obviously not working smoking cigarettes and drinking beer with cigarettes $5.00 a pack and gas $5.00 a gallon. SUFFERING??? What most suffer is a "sense of purpose and value in this world" ! THEY ARE "BORED" (walking around wth A CELLPHONE IN THEIR EAR AS IF THEY HAVE SOMETHING WORTHWHILE TO BE TALKING ABOUT !!
FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT "We have a bunch of spoiled rotten boys and girls walking around in adult bodies" !
NO THEY HAVE A "COMING DOWN" TO DO. ALL OF US THAT HAvE "WORKED ALL OF OUR LIVES AND SACRIFICED FOR A SECURE LIFE WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE THAT! WE LOOK AT ALL OF THIS "EXCESS" ANDIT APPEARS THAT A BUNCH OF HOGS ARE DEVOURING EVERYTHING ! WELL, AS HOGS DO...THEY WILL EAT AS LONG AS YOU OPUT FOOD IN THE TROUGH BUT THEY WILL STARVE...WHEN YOU QUIT MAKING THE SACRIFICE !!
JUST THE FACTS "MA'AM" !
Ron
Comment by John Palmer on April 13, 2012 at 7:39am There will always be those who "game" the system to get an advantage.
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