The Promise of Fairness

squashed:

jeffmiller writes:

Apparently, it is now unfair to talk about fairness.

I don’t think that is the case at all—though we should avoid the reflexive assumption that what is fair is just and what is just should be fair. Suppose you stumble across two people. One is dying of thirst, the other isn’t. You have water. Is it “unfair” to only offer the water to the guy who needs it? Is it “fair” to drink all the water yourself? It takes a willful blindness toward reality to assume that the best policies will treat everybody identically, regardless of how they are situated.

If CNN.com wants to report that a vast majority of people think a policy is “unfair” it’s free to do so—but it’s not good journalism or good polling. I would say the same thing if they had asked whether the Republican postition was “uncharitable”.

Squashed, Obama promised us fairness.  On October 13, 2008:

We can restore a sense of fairness and balance that will give ever American a fair shot at the American dream. And above all, we can restore confidence - confidence in America, confidence in our economy, and confidence in ourselves.

I could cite tons of other times he promised fairness too.  If he promised fairness, it’s fair for CNN to ask if he’s delivering fairness.  Or if fairness doesn’t really matter to him anymore, should I just chalk this up as another broken promise?

Source: squashed

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