Framing the Issue Series
It is apparent in the United States that we are in a time during which national public policy agreement on most substantive issues is difficult to achieve. We have submitted in these pages that the basic reason for this impasse is that a chasm has opened within the electorate between competing visions for the Country.
We stand at about half-and-half, locked in battle. At the root, one side is powered by a collectivist, socialist, emotional drive for equality. The other side is animated by a personal, experiential, logical instinct for freedom. Thomas Mann observed, "Logically considered, freedom and equality are mutually exclusive." For one half to achieve its vision, the other must yield its dearest aim. Not only are the visions polar opposite, the strategies and tactics are completely different. It matters not a little. It calls for plain talk.
What's in a Word?
Justice is a term employed with extraordinary frequency. Its evolution of use is interwoven with the concept of fairness, which tests out at extraordinarily high importance to a broad swath of humanity. Thus, it should be of no surprise that the term Justice is liberally employed by skilled practitioners in the art of persuasion. Vairants on the theme include social justice, racial justice, economic justice, environmental justice, international justice, reproductive justice, divine justice, retributive justice, restorative justice, distributive justice, and so on. The presence of so many common modifiers is the tip-off
