The Path from Liberty to Social Justice

When our country was founded, the primary emphasis was on the establishment of liberty--freedom from oppression by government. Thus, our constitution is one of limited powers; all powers not conferred on government in the constitution are reserved to the people.


Our national experiment in establishing liberty has been successful. Freedom has been passed down from generation to generation, for more than 225 years. This is a miracle.

We now take freedom somewhat for granted. The national government of limited powers has been instrumental in protecting our freedom from threats, foreign and domestic, to the point where government is now viewed as a source of freedom, not a source of tyranny.

Two points follow.

• First, with our basic freedoms secured, most Americans now want the next logical step: social justice. With liberty as our birthright, people are now able to focus achieving the happiness which we are free to pursue. Equality of opportunity is fine as far as it goes; equality of outcome is even better.
  
• Second, the government is widely perceived as a common resource to help us achieve this goal. We have forgotten that government was a source of tyranny; we now invoke its assistance in achieving social justice.

We see this trend unleashed in the political will that elected the current administration.
The best path to social justice should be the subject of a vigorous debate.

Economics and Freedom

Here's an interesting website devoted to economics and freedom. The Mises Institute says:

"Everyone carries a part of society on his shoulders," wrote Ludwig von Mises, "no one is relieved of his share of responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interest, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle."

"It is the mission of the Mises Institute to restore a high place for theory in economics and the social sciences, encourage a revival of critical historical research, and draw attention to neglected traditions in Western philosophy. In this cause, the Mises Institute works to advance the Austrian School of economics and the Misesian tradition, and, in application, defends the market economy, private property, sound money, and peaceful international relations, while opposing government intervention as economically and socially destructive."

The Statue of Responsibility

Victor Frankl makes an interesting suggestion in his classic book Man's Search for Meaning. As a counterbalance to the Statute of Liberty on the East Coast, we should have a "Statue of Responsibility" on the West Coast.
Every right is balanced by a duty, and every liberty balanced by a responsibility. If every citizen took this seriously, think how much better our society would be.
And its not an idle dream. After I started this blog entry I discovered that there is an entire website devoted to this idea. Maybe it will happen--but only if we take responsibility for it.