Re: justice, justice... Was: Anti-Semitism in the Neo-Confederate movement.

On Tue, 27 Dec 2005 15:36:52 +0000 (UTC), "Rafael"
<jmalfatto@xxxxxxxxxxxx> said:

>"Herman Rubin" <hrubin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>news:don6oh$sfo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> In article <1135540586.629072.212710@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
>> Rafael <jmalfatto@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >Imagine a hypothetical society in which 98% of the population lives in
>> >abject poverty (e.g. experiencing living standards comparable to those
>> >of a medieval peasant or a modern Third-World rural villager), while
>> >the remaining 2% live in relatively extreme luxury (e.g. like that of
>> >medieval monarch or modern robber baron).
>>
>> This would be an unstable situation; there would be
>> enough branching out, UNLESS there was no place to
>> go; this is the current danger. Even the competition
>> among that 2%, with some trying to increase their
>> scope by recruiting people from the 98% to help them
>> by increasing their standards of living will generate
>> a diverse level. The important thing is that nobody,
>> or no group, has the power to control...
>
>I agree that the hypothetical scenario would not be stable in reality
>(indeed, the history of social revolutions suggests that), but that is
>irrelevant to my point; viz. that, in common parlance (if not common sense),
>this would be an example of an "unjust distribution of wealth."
>
>For you to say that there is "no such thing" as a "just distribution of
>wealth" is, I suspect, an idiosyncratic or sectarian use of language.

There can be an unjust distribution of wealth where violence or
grossly unequal opportunities exist. However, a definition of a "just"
distribution is so nebulous and so unlikely to be universally agreed
upon as to be pretty much meaningless.

Perhaps a "fair" distribution is better. I'd argue that in a system
similar to the American one the distribution is mostly fair. (I came
here with $40 to my name 16 years ago, and am in the top 10% of the
income scale now. Admittedly, redistributive forces - namely subsidies
to higher education - were a major factor.)

>Regardless, to suggest that the abstract concept of justice has no
>application to the economic sphere is paramount to a denial of justice
>altogether. That might be meaningful in some modern libertarian forum, but
>is entirely alien to Judaism (e.g. with its tradition of respect for the
>rights of the poor, however tribal or national in scope).

AFAIK, Judaism and libertarianism are in agreement on the rights of
the poor. Beware - this has the potential of replaying the debate of
whether the obligations to give poor things like peah, leket, etc. are
identical with the rights of the poor to same.

Yisroel "Godwrestler Warriorson" Markov - Boston, MA Member
www.reason.com -- for unbiased analysis of the world DNRC
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"Judge, and be prepared to be judged" -- Ayn Rand
.

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