During class, I also thought about Rawls. This is a nice article for people who may want to read something about Rawls and the Original Position: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/original-position/

The idea that we all won the (material-wealth) lottery by being born in America does provoke difficult questions about what we can do with the idea that life is random, and that we are all the same before we are assigned a role by a bingo wheel.

As suggested by Lauren, Rawls suggests we can create a theory of justice, focused on justice as a mechanism of institutions. Because few of our institutions reach the archetypal impoverished world citizens (third world children, perhaps), turning thought into action is difficult (arguments could be made that we do actually interact with such institutions, coca-cola for example, but we have little perception of control). So we are left wondering: what can we do by accepting this idea, nothing?

I suggest we can shift our definition of ‘fairness’. If we think that individual advantages are a matter of chance, Rawls would suggest that we should only benefit by them as far as they are of benefit to all (which may be helpful with the idea of a non-dichotomous selfish/selfless divide). From here, we can use the ‘original position’ to measure governments, and a standard of “fairness” for creating institutions, policy, and law. If changing existing structures is too ambitious, we can guide our lives toward jobs within that benefit others. Justifications for progressive-taxation, estate-taxation, public education, foreign aid, rehabilitative prison systems, and public health services are all furnished by this Rawlsian ideal.

Such social programs face opposition. Arnold would, I think, argue that the opposition comes from a psychological attachment to the :American Businessman” as an ideal, and a belief that “enlightened selfishness” produces the best results, and to suggest otherwise is heresy. Everyone is aware of these arguments; perhaps best stated by Joe the Plumber, an unlicensed handy-man earning 40k/yr., who took great offense to repealing a 4% tax cut on individuals making more than six-times as much money as him. Arnold’s argument, that we base political decisions on ‘creeds’ and ‘folklore’, helps explain this.

As a separate note, the ‘92 Clinton execution was mentioned in class, and I thought some background material might be useful. First, I am against capital punishment. I am especially opposed to the state killing people with diminished mental capacity. Mostly, the idea of state killing for political gain is repulsive. However, I am uncertain whether this instance of state-mandated killing was worse than others, perhaps because I went to college in the town where the victim shot several strangers over three dollars--- killing one of them. Then, after saying he wished to turn himself in, he murdered a police officer and shot himself in the head, causing the brain damage which made his eventual execution controversial.

-- AndrewMcCormick - 09 Feb 2009