Freedom and Justice
Many of the ideas advocated by liberals, progressives, and Democrats in America today derive from the one, true, positive, unmentioned progressive virtue: Justice.
The intimate understanding that many people in our communities work ferociously hard and are poorly compensated makes us feel that they deserve more. When we as individuals and as communities share our prosperity with them, we thereby pursue Justice.
Society’s awareness that the prosperity of some, like Ken Lay, sometimes comes at the expense of others heightens our concern with unmitigated greed. When we demand that riches be accumulated fairly, we thereby pursue Justice.
We recall the 50s with favor because people then lived up to others’ expectations of them. When we honor our commitments, we thereby pursue Justice.
Freedom is the virtue of the Right; Justice is the virtue of the Left. Both are positive virtues, and neither is inherently superior to the other. Volumes can be written about how these virtues play out in political discourse… and volumes (at least of the Weekly Standard and the National Review) have indeed been written about Freedom. Since 1968’s two great tragedies, in America Justice has had no standard-bearer.
I hope progressive champions will emerge to remind people how service to each other and to the community enhance Justice. I hope these champions will teach that wealth enhances Justice insofar as we all share in the benefits of its acquisition and use. I hope these champions of Justice take heed of the religious leaders who haven’t forgotten.
And I think the wisest champions of Justice will celebrate it as a positive virtue, mindful that Freedom is a positive virtue, too.
