The quote in the headline of this post was taken from "What is "Fair"?" at Liberty Unbound, which got me a-thinking this morning.Just What is This Fairness I keep Hearing About and Where can I get Some?
Any of the numerous times that I have heard the chief collectivist in the White House proclaim how much the United States values "fairness" in our tax system, markets, "national" income, etc., I cringe, wince, yell and throw things at the television and/or perform repeated face palms.
I get so irritated by the uses of a anti-concept like "fairness" because it is an incredibly subjective term dependant upon one's worldview.
How Can a Guy as "Smart" as Obama Believe in Such a Fallacy?
Bringing up "fairness" (specifically in taxes and the iron fist of government power) begs several questions. Every time you hear King Obama mention it, think of a few simple scenarios and questions:
Fair to whom? A Republican-appointed bean counter? A
Democrat-selected Czar? A committee that has control over your life, public life, a city or state? Fairness determined by a compromised President? Your neighbor? A Che Guevera-lusting college professor that thinks communism is fair? An idiotic, brain-cell-challenged teenager that is just lazy and likes to think that "fairness" is an 24/7 X-Box-playing government-subsidized lifestyle? A union-thug demanding the overwhelming majority of your income simply because they wake up in the morning? (pictured at right).Isn't it so much better for markets and individuals to be the final arbiter in deciding that which is
fair? For instance, I don't think that it is "fair" for me to pay progressively higher tax rates on my personal income simply because I work 12 hours-a-day and put a lot more effort into my career than my fat, lazy 12-pack-a-day neighbor does. I think that progressive taxation limits my income potential, choices and liberty. I, as a responsible adult individual should be allowed to pursue my career without fear of penalization via. progressive overlord concepts of that which is fair. My income is my property and without it, I am deprived of my personal freedom.Again, "fairness" is an anti-concept, paraphrased by the Ayn Rand Lexicon site, as:
An anti-concept is an unnecessary and rationally unusable term designed to replace and obliterate some legitimate concept. The use of anti-concepts gives the listeners a sense of approximate understanding. But in the realm of cognition, nothing is as bad as the approximate . . . .
I've Seen Fair and Her Name is Socialism
Effectively used by our progressive overlords, fairness replaces and obliterates the unyielding,
uncompromisable, nearly forgotten concept that this nation was founded upon: liberty. That's why a government focused on such a non-tangible subjective credo is so dangerous. There is literally nothing in its path to keep it in check. From Barack's psuedo communism to Fidel Castro's real deal, collectivist notions to rob you of your pay check, life and liberty at gunpoint always begin with selling "fair" to a non-thinking public unwilling or unable to weigh the tradeoff of socialism versus human freedom.For further reading on this topic, please read, "What is "Fair"?" at Liberty Unbound and "C’mon Time to Give Something Back" at Allied Liberty News.
Cross posted to LCR, Libertarian Patriot, Allied Liberty News and Rational Nation.
