Justice
Nobody is against Justice. Indeed, most of us would
maintain that Justice is the foundation of Morality. The Hebrews taught that
God is just. Plato tells us that Socrates spoke at length about Justice.
The Christian concept of Justice is that every man
should be accorded his deserts. Bad deeds deserve punishment; good deeds
deserve reward. Christians believe that perfect Justice is not attainable in
this world – certainly not by the efforts of humans. The Christian concept of
Justice is the same as the Hebraic. It is bleak. We all do evil; therefore we
all deserve punishment. Unlike all other religions, Christianity teaches that,
although God is all-just, He is also all-merciful – so much so that He Himself
paid the price, suffered the punishment for our sins. It is the Ultimate Free
Lunch; all we have to do is to say, yes please.
We Free Marketeers believe that Capitalism is based
on Justice. What is mine is mine and I cannot be dispossessed of it. I am free
to exchange what is mine for what is yours, provided that we both freely agree.
That’s it! If I acquire capital, by saving, by borrowing or by inheritance, I
am free to mix in my ingenuity and labour, and thereby make a profit – if I am
lucky. If I need more labour than my arms, legs and brain can supply, I am free
to engage with you to supply me with yours, provided that we agree the price,
your wages. This is the only way prices and wages can be determined. Von Mises
explains that the information supplied by prices is missing in a socialist
economy. Such economies are therefore not able to supply the wants of society.
There are gluts, or, more likely, shortages. Capitalism is simple, efficient
and just. Socialism is tortuous, inefficient and unjust. Soviet economists subscribed
to Sears Roebuck. They had no
mechanism for determining prices for themselves
Free Marketeers are very likely to be Libertarians,
who believe that the one societal
rule is that it is wrong to initiate violence against another. Many free
marketeers often also feel an obligation to alleviate ignorance and suffering
when they can. Indeed, we are commanded to do unto others as we would have them
do unto us.
Socialism is based on violence. All are dispossessed
by the state by dint of the threat of violence.
In a so-called mixed economy the state allows us to keep some of our own
property. The horror of ‘progressive’ taxation is not that the rich pay more
but that they pay disproportionately more. There is not even a scintilla of
moral justification for this. A tragic side-effect is that the rich are actively
discouraged from contributing to charity, although many do any way.
We have, of late, invented a plethora of new
flavours of Justice: most notably ‘Social Justice’ and even, absurdly, ‘Climate
Justice’. How long do you have to reflect before coming to the conclusion that
these are completely bogus ideas? Everything that needs to be said about
Justice in society is said by ‘Justice’. Justice is about deserts – rewards and
punishments, good and evil. “If a man will not work, he shall not eat”, says St
Paul – this is Justice. “From each according to his ability, to each according
to his needs”, says Karl Marx. This is definitionally unjust. It sounds OK; but it imposes an obligation
on everyone else – backed up by the threat of violence.
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