There are a lot of fights going on in America.  Abortion.  Education.  Tax Equity/Fairness.  Gay Marriage.  Every one of them are buzz-words that evoke visceral reactions from folks across this land.

But I think these battles have a more underlying cause.   One that was mentioned (often) by President Obama in his historic Second Inaugural Address…

We hold these truths to be self-evident- that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness…

            We all know think we know what Life is.  Until we bring up Abortion.  And, the second we do that, we bring up religion, personal responsibility, the right of a woman AND a man to choose what happens next with their lives.

We all know what we think Liberty is.  The right to be free from restrictions?  The right to carry a machine gun around because you think the government is about to attack you? (No wonder they don’t want mental acuity checks performed before you can purchase just such weapons.) The right to pursue the American Dream (even if the deck is stacked against you).  The right to have no income tax (which is progressive) and substitute it with a sales tax (which is regressive).  The right to cut local taxes because they are too high and you have no children in public schools, so it makes no difference to you.

What we don’t know is what Happiness is.   Is that the ability to amass as much money as we want without worrying about others?  Or, the ability to drive down the roads at 120 mph because we have a shiny new sportscar?  Or, the ability to not have folks in some backwoods town in another country calling us up at 6:01 PM, trying to sell us something we don’t need?

You get the idea.  But, the facts of the matter is that these all are surrounded by the underlying principle of whether prosperity enables justice or justice enables prosperity.  Let’s first consider what Obama had to say… “a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play”, “commitments to justice, like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great.”

These concepts are antithetical to those on the right wing.  The Roberts Supreme Court, one that claims to be against judicial activism- while it employs that concept in every decision it renders-  believes that “It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices”, that large corporations shall not be encumbered by class-action lawsuits, and by the Citizens United decision to let money overcome the rights of people to have free political choices.

We will hear that same Court render a decision on gay rights before May.  Oh, these are fundamental rules about justice and fairness.  But, they are fundamental rules about prosperity, because they affect one’s tax rates, one’s ability to afford health care, and one’s ability to participate in the American economy as an equal (that purported “American Dream”).

What I find amazing is that these same Right Wing people, the ones who perpetually spout chapter and verse from the bible to prove their cause, miss the key elements that set the entire system in play.  “Justice, Justice shall you pursue”.  It means we must treat the rich and the poor equally correct in our decisions, and not let money sway our choices.  It’s why there are rules (which are being subverted in the name that they cost too much) to provide adequate representation to the poor when they must appear in court.  Who must prevail in their cause for justice when the “state” has infinite resources they can employ to bolster their case.  Who want “beyond a reasonable doubt” to be converted to “circumstantial evidence”- unless it means that hedge fund managers and bankers should go to jail.

(One of the fundamental problems to their own cause is that these Right Wingers are always railing at the government.  They- and their leaders- scream that government is the problem (often using the term ‘enemy’).  Which is why they need guns to protect themselves against the government.  But, it’s also why NO program they can suggest can be believed by the masses- because they use big government to outlaw abortion (cut the crap that they are protecting the women or the fetus), that they can develop programs that will promote business and wages (how can big government – their enemy – solve this problem?)…And, folks recognize that for the past two decades and then some- NO wage parity has been maintained by business, as they accrued significant productivity gains.)

No, the bible understood that workers should never have to wait for their wages.  “Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay.”  Because without justice, there can be no prosperity.

We cannot afford to have justice prevail only when there is prosperity.  Is that not one of the problems we see in all these political revolts around the world?  Where prosperity exists for the select few- at the expense of the people, who desperately want justice and the prosperity that ensues from that principle?

I am honored by the choices of my son (the only one left in college) who understands this philosophical issue.  Who knows that he needs to understand economics AND political science, so that he can be the great justice to which he aspires.  Because prosperity does derive from justice.

Justice, Justice shall you pursue…And, remember that when the Hittites offered to let Avraham (Abraham) bury his beloved wife, Sara, in the cave of Machpela for free, he refused such an offer- because that would be taking advantage of kindness, that economic fairness applies in life and in death.

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