I’ve been thinking about how human values of fairness lie behind political beliefs again:
‘The Left’ – Everyone is equal. Difference is due to upbringing. We must take money off the rich and give it to the poor until every one has the same. Capitalism is flawed but what else is there?
‘The Right’ – Some people are better than others and deserve to be rewarded. Competitive winners are born not made. Winning is generally handed down the bloodline, though exceptional individuals should be allowed to rise from the ranks. Capitalism is a natural mechanism: survival of the fittest. The poor should be encouraged to try harder. Charity should help the completely hopeless.
‘The Centre’ – A compromise between Left and Right, in my opinion between 2 wrongs.
I’d like to make a radical proposal that is not Left, Right or Centre. It cherry picks the bits of ‘fair’ I think are true:
‘A New Fair’ – People are all different but should have equal opportunities to succeed. Everyone has the right to an adequate life and to find where they can best add value to society. Our culture should adequately reward those who add most and we should encourage the most able (at anything we value, including compassion or athleticism) to be the ones who have most children. We must do that without punishing children. Inheritance rights need to be severely reduced.
If we want equal work opportunities for women then genders must share childcare i.e. it must be equally likely that a male parent will take a career break and ‘do the school run’.
I’d welcome feedback, preferably here – WordPress registration isn’t bothersome but Twitter: @wootube would be fine too.
On The Outside 