The words "equality" and "fairness" are tossed around--seemingly without a second thought--by the Left in almost every speech, soundbite, and debate that they have, whatever the issue might be. Equality and fairness are laudible goals--so we are told--that should be at the center of all legislative decisions.
But are these terms synomyms? Is fairness truly equitable? Is equality truly fair? Are these terms truly interchangeable?
First, let's consider what is meant by each term. For the term "Equality", WordNet Search defines the term in two ways--first "the quality of being the same in quantity or measure or value or status", and secondly, as "a state of being essentially equal or equivalent; equally balanced". On the face of it, those sound like laudible ideas--but is a goal of "equality" as defined either by constant sameness in measure of value, or a state of being equally balanced, truly something worthwhile for a society to aspire to? Think about that for a second...we'll come back to that question a bit later.
Now, let's consider the definition of "fairness". Wikipedia defines fairness as "The property of being fair". Um...ok...so that definition really told us nothing. So let's look back to our childhood and think of how many of us learned the concept of "fairness", through play, games, and sports. If you remember back to your childhood, a "fair" game or contest was one in which everybody played by the same rules and conditions. The the idea was that such a "fair" environment would give the best chance of winning to the person or team who played better on the day. When you played baseball, both teams get nine innings at bat. Would if be fair to give an inferior team 15 innings at bat, while restricting a superior team to only nine innings? Ceratainly not. When you played football, was an inferior team only required to make five yards for a first down, while a better team had to gain the full ten yards? Of course not.
In any truly fair competition, inequalities will naturally develop--those who play better, are more talented, and/or work harder will develop advantages within the context of the competition. Fast forwarding out of childhood and into adulthood, it stands to reason that if people are allowed to perform, develop, and work to extent that their talents and capabilities allow, then inequalities will natrually develop. Those who perform better in life will have a higher liklihood of "winning", those who don't perform as well will be less likely to "win" in the game of life. Because human beings are not created with equal amounts of talent, intelligence, drive, work ethic, or any number of other factors, human beings cannot expect to end up with equivalent results in a truly fair environment. Instead, a truly fair environment should see the "best and the brightest" have more success (and, by extension, more money and property, which are how human beings measure success, or "keep score") than others within society.
So now let's re-examine the concept of equality. The concept, as we defined earlier, is strictly about a numeric sameness. It does not take into account performace, work ethic, talent, or drive. Equality doesn't care who performed better or why, it simply takes from those with more natural ability (or from those who have less natural ability but have found a way to get more out of it), and gives to those who don't play "the game of life" as well. To pursue equality in this manner punishes success (and punishes all that leads to that success--the concepts of hard work, ingenuity, and drive) while rewarding failure. If you were playing any game, and you knew that no matter how many points you scored, the referee would simply end the game in a tie no matter what, then how hard would you try? How hard would you compete? Would you truly have anything to gain by playing your best game? I would think not.
So you see that "equality" is actually an unfair concept at it's core. Yet, the American Left bases much of their political philosophy around the concept of equality. How many times does the Left talk about taxing the rich at a higher rate than the rest of the population? While doing so might approach "equality", it certainly isn't "fair". Should those who can afford Health Care be forced to pay for those who cannot? In terms of fairness, the answer should be no-- because doing so rewards those who have not worked and sacrificed to become succesful while punishing those who have.
Much of Liberalism is about taking from the haves and giving to the have nots. However, what Liberalism doesn't take into account is that there are some very good--and very fair--reasons why the "haves" have what they do, and the "have nots" don't.
The next time you hear a politician (usually a Liberal) talking about equality, your ears should now perk up...because you now realize that the politician in question is attempting to use the flawed concept of "equality" to foster an environment that is absolutely unfair.
Showing posts with label equality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label equality. Show all posts
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
CWG's 12 Key Core Values of Modern Conservatism
It's amazing, for an era in which human beings have more access to political debate, discussion, and analysis than ever before...for an era in which, 24 hours a day, you can turn on several cable channels and watch two people on a split screen debate every hot-button political issue making news...for an era in which there are blogs and websites dedicated to a painstaking breakdown of even the most minute and fringe political positions...there remains one question that is amazingly almost never asked...
Why do Conservatives believe as they do?
Over the next month or so, the focus of this blog will be to answer that very question (or at least, to answer the question of why *this* Conservative believes as he does). I really don't think that too many people (of whatever political stripe) set out in search of a political movement that they can "belong" to, but instead--over time--find that one political philosophy better fits their core values and beliefs much more so than other political philosophies do. The one exception might be Freshman and Sophomore College Girls...some of them seem to be in such need of attention that they sometimes seek out all sorts of "causes" that they really know nothing about, aside from what was printed in a flier that was handed to them in the student union. You then see them in high-traffic areas of most Universities protesting whatever the "cause of the day" is: Freeing Tibet, Saving The Whales, The Clubbing of Baby Seals, Veganism, Global Warming (or back in the 70's, "Global Cooling"), Social Justice, Wage Peace (whatever the Hell that is), Darfur, The Oppression of Being Pressured to Wear Undergarments and Shave Their Legs...the list is virtually endless. The upside to this is that on occasion, some of these girls will disrobe and run through campus naked while trying to raise awareness about whatever their "cause" is this week. Sometimes, they'll even participate in one of those naked PETA protests. The downside is that many of these girls aren't terribly attractive--so much of the nudity is wasted. Nevertheless, within a couple of years, most of these "misery chicks" grow out of this immature political posturing and re-acquaint themselves with the reasons they went to college in the first place...to get a degree, get a good-paying job, and meet a charming future Doctor or Lawyer who has a better-paying job. Those that don't grow out of it...well, they become bitter spinsters who spend their lives working for non-profit organizations, listening to Indigo Girl albums repeatedly, going to Margaret Cho concerts, and constantly complaining about how some sort of "male-dominated power structure" has held them back from doing somethingorother.
...in other words, they become Nancy Pelosi.
But I digress..
Ok, as I was saying before I slightly veered off track--most people don't set out to change their core values to fit some sort of political philosophy, but instead--with the benefit of time and life experience--find a political philosophy that fits the core values and beliefs that they already have. And so it is with me, your friendly neighborhood CWG. For much of my life--up until around my late 20's--I had a passing interest in politics at best. I'd vote in Presidential elections and "bigger" Congressional races, but I rarely thought about what my overall political philosophy was. But all the time, my beliefs of right and wrong, fair and unfair, good and bad, were always fairly consistent. As I got older, more mature, and more reflective, I started to examine the key core values that I brought to the voting booth--and discovered that Conservatism fit these beliefs much better than Liberalism, Libertarianism, or any of the other "isms" that show up on the spectrum of political thought.
As I look back on my life and my political development, I've identified 12 Key Core Values that I bring to my politics--both in my early political experiences (when I mistakenly thought of myself as a...*gasp*...moderate. And you have no idea how ashamed I am to admit that), and in my current place in life where I gladly and proudly proclaim myself as a Conservative. While some Conservatives might not agree with all of these core values, I believe that most modern Conservatives can at least identify with a majority of them. These 12 beliefs are everything that I feel Modern Conservatism--and indeed, America as a whole--should embody. These values do not come from a book, a pundit, or any Political Science course, but instead come from my 30+ years of living in the greatest nation to ever grace the Earth.:
CWG'S 12 KEY CORE VALUES OF CONSERVATISM:
1. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
2. "Equality" and "Fairness" are not synonyms...these terms CANNOT be used interchangeably.
3. Success should be encouraged, not vilified.
4. When I choose to help somebody, it is charity. When the government forces me to "help" somebody, it is theft. Robin Hood was not someone to be admired, he was a thief to be brought to justice.
5. America is, by and large, a pretty good place. American Culture is, far and away, the greatest culture in all of human history.
6. You are your own Leader.
7. Politicians are human too--which is exactly why limited government is preferable.
8. I don't care what you do in your bedroom--but I do care when you expose my kids to it.
9. The Needs, Goals, and Desires of the individual are infinitely more important than the Needs, Goals, and Desires of any perceived "Community".
10. The truth hurts...but is beneficial for us in the long run (which is why Political Correctness is extremely destructive)
11. War is Hell...and it is also very necessary at key points in history.
12. It takes a village to raise an idiot--it takes a family to raise a child.
There they are--the 12 Core Values that shaped my political beliefs (as well as many of my beliefs on life in general). I believe that many of these values are shared by Modern Conservatives, as well. To that end, I will be taking the month of August to go through these values, one by one, and illustrate how each relates to Conservatism...and how each of these Core values are ideas that will stand our nation (and ourselves as individuals) in good stead as we move forward through history.
Why do Conservatives believe as they do?
Over the next month or so, the focus of this blog will be to answer that very question (or at least, to answer the question of why *this* Conservative believes as he does). I really don't think that too many people (of whatever political stripe) set out in search of a political movement that they can "belong" to, but instead--over time--find that one political philosophy better fits their core values and beliefs much more so than other political philosophies do. The one exception might be Freshman and Sophomore College Girls...some of them seem to be in such need of attention that they sometimes seek out all sorts of "causes" that they really know nothing about, aside from what was printed in a flier that was handed to them in the student union. You then see them in high-traffic areas of most Universities protesting whatever the "cause of the day" is: Freeing Tibet, Saving The Whales, The Clubbing of Baby Seals, Veganism, Global Warming (or back in the 70's, "Global Cooling"), Social Justice, Wage Peace (whatever the Hell that is), Darfur, The Oppression of Being Pressured to Wear Undergarments and Shave Their Legs...the list is virtually endless. The upside to this is that on occasion, some of these girls will disrobe and run through campus naked while trying to raise awareness about whatever their "cause" is this week. Sometimes, they'll even participate in one of those naked PETA protests. The downside is that many of these girls aren't terribly attractive--so much of the nudity is wasted. Nevertheless, within a couple of years, most of these "misery chicks" grow out of this immature political posturing and re-acquaint themselves with the reasons they went to college in the first place...to get a degree, get a good-paying job, and meet a charming future Doctor or Lawyer who has a better-paying job. Those that don't grow out of it...well, they become bitter spinsters who spend their lives working for non-profit organizations, listening to Indigo Girl albums repeatedly, going to Margaret Cho concerts, and constantly complaining about how some sort of "male-dominated power structure" has held them back from doing somethingorother.
...in other words, they become Nancy Pelosi.
But I digress..
Ok, as I was saying before I slightly veered off track--most people don't set out to change their core values to fit some sort of political philosophy, but instead--with the benefit of time and life experience--find a political philosophy that fits the core values and beliefs that they already have. And so it is with me, your friendly neighborhood CWG. For much of my life--up until around my late 20's--I had a passing interest in politics at best. I'd vote in Presidential elections and "bigger" Congressional races, but I rarely thought about what my overall political philosophy was. But all the time, my beliefs of right and wrong, fair and unfair, good and bad, were always fairly consistent. As I got older, more mature, and more reflective, I started to examine the key core values that I brought to the voting booth--and discovered that Conservatism fit these beliefs much better than Liberalism, Libertarianism, or any of the other "isms" that show up on the spectrum of political thought.
As I look back on my life and my political development, I've identified 12 Key Core Values that I bring to my politics--both in my early political experiences (when I mistakenly thought of myself as a...*gasp*...moderate. And you have no idea how ashamed I am to admit that), and in my current place in life where I gladly and proudly proclaim myself as a Conservative. While some Conservatives might not agree with all of these core values, I believe that most modern Conservatives can at least identify with a majority of them. These 12 beliefs are everything that I feel Modern Conservatism--and indeed, America as a whole--should embody. These values do not come from a book, a pundit, or any Political Science course, but instead come from my 30+ years of living in the greatest nation to ever grace the Earth.:
CWG'S 12 KEY CORE VALUES OF CONSERVATISM:
1. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
2. "Equality" and "Fairness" are not synonyms...these terms CANNOT be used interchangeably.
3. Success should be encouraged, not vilified.
4. When I choose to help somebody, it is charity. When the government forces me to "help" somebody, it is theft. Robin Hood was not someone to be admired, he was a thief to be brought to justice.
5. America is, by and large, a pretty good place. American Culture is, far and away, the greatest culture in all of human history.
6. You are your own Leader.
7. Politicians are human too--which is exactly why limited government is preferable.
8. I don't care what you do in your bedroom--but I do care when you expose my kids to it.
9. The Needs, Goals, and Desires of the individual are infinitely more important than the Needs, Goals, and Desires of any perceived "Community".
10. The truth hurts...but is beneficial for us in the long run (which is why Political Correctness is extremely destructive)
11. War is Hell...and it is also very necessary at key points in history.
12. It takes a village to raise an idiot--it takes a family to raise a child.
There they are--the 12 Core Values that shaped my political beliefs (as well as many of my beliefs on life in general). I believe that many of these values are shared by Modern Conservatives, as well. To that end, I will be taking the month of August to go through these values, one by one, and illustrate how each relates to Conservatism...and how each of these Core values are ideas that will stand our nation (and ourselves as individuals) in good stead as we move forward through history.
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