Social Justice is Incompatible with Democracy

Social Justice is Incompatible with Democracy

You might think this is an odd thing to assert. Many progressives would say that social justice is the essence of democracy. But it is not. Social justice comes cloaked in virtue and good intentions but at its heart social justice is totalitarian. Let me explain.

I don’t care about the political beliefs of my plumber or HVAC technician (or their gender, race or other identity) as long as they do good work. The quality of the work they do has a direct affect on me, their beliefs and identities don’t. Their expertise is based on study and work to learn their specialization, their identity was theirs at birth (who knows where their political beliefs come from). When I hire a plumber or HVAC technician, I do so because of the anticipated quality of their work based on their reputation and not because of their identity. They are specialists in their chosen field.

Specialization in the keystone of all civilization. Our ancient hunter/gatherer ancestors were not very specialized. Everyone was a hunter and a gatherer (although men tended to hunt, and women tended to gather). The low productivity of hunting and gathering limited the size of the nomadic groups. They all needed to know how to knap stones into tools and which berries were poisonous and which were safe and healthful. They consumed most of what they produced and any surplus meat or grain they had was limited to what they could carry.

But when humans began to produce food from farming, the surplus of food they created could be stored for future needs and also provide food for other humans so that they could produce things other than food that were useful to the farmers. The produce of each homestead could not support a mill, but one person with the skill and knowledge to construct a mill could be the miller for many farmers. The same idea applied to the blacksmith, the cooper, the potter, etc.

As human civilization advanced, people became more and more specialized. Some became soldiers to protect the farmland and the stores of food from roaming bands of marauders. Others became priests to interpret the seasons for planting and harvesting as well as explaining the other mysteries that bedeviled our ancestors. Inevitably specialization led to kings and emperors, wars and conquering armies making many people long for the good old days of egalitarian hunting and gathering.

But despite despots, monarchs, invading hordes and great power wars humans didn’t do so badly, slowly growing in population and wealth throughout the centuries. And then some new ideas came around on how to enjoy increasing population and wealth without oppression, tyranny and war. Enlightenment philosophy showed how people could have the liberty to seek out their dreams and ambitions through limited government controlled by the people and not by tyrants.

The intellectual and economic freedom delivered by this philosophy has propelled the entire world to undreamt heights of wealth and prosperity while at the same time reducing totalitarianism and the wars of conquest. And this modernization of society has created even more specialization as products and processes become more complex. The thousands of people involved in the manufacture of Adam Smith’s simple straight pin (The Pin Factory and Social Justice, June 10, 2022) has now become hundreds of thousands needed to manufacture an iPhone, each a specialist in their field.

The road hasn’t been even, and there have been many setbacks. But progress has seemed inevitable. But now it appears that we have reached a crossroads. Many people are disappointed that Western Civilization has not been able to deliver its benefits more equally in our country and around the world. They want to change our political structure to distribute the benefits of our prosperity more equally and to make right some of the wrongs of the past. Honorable sentiments, perhaps, but the changes they want to make will cause great damage.

The progressive left wants to block the civilizing force that specialization and expertise in a chosen field of work or study has played in making us so prosperous. Instead of being dedicated to making their products or services better, all professions must be dedicated to serving a greater good as the progressive left defines it – the green new deal, anti-racism and (importantly) diversity, equity and inclusion standards in all public and private institutions.

It started in universities where professors must advise faculty committees of their efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion and PhD holders applying for positions at various universities must include proof of their dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion to be considered for a position. The standing of these academics in their chosen field does not matter. Neither does their published works or peer reviewed papers. Even the scientific and professional journals now require proof from the authors of submitted articles about how they are applying the DEI principles in their work.

Branches of the government are also adopting DEI standards in their hiring and promotions. Progressives are pushing for the Federal Reserve to be given a third and fourth mandate to include diversity, equity and inclusion goals as well as climate change objectives into their regulation of the banking system (as if the Fed did not have its hands full with just two mandates). The imposition of woke training and practices is not only affecting morale in our military, it is causing recruitment and retention problems such that the US Military is cannot fully man its forces. The Wall Street Journal reported that starting in fiscal 2023, every proposal responding to a solicitation from the Energy Department’s Office of Science is required to include a PIER plan, which stands for Promoting Inclusive and Equitable Research, to “describe the activities and strategies of the applicant to promote equity and inclusion as an intrinsic element to advancing scientific excellence.”

Raising woke virtue over expertise in highly complex scientific fields or detailed manufacturing processes will not only lead inevitably to a decline in productivity, it will, in fact, put lives at risk as virtuous progressives may lack the technical expertise to make rational decisions on vital health, production and security matters. The progressive left is intent on undermining one of the most important pillars on which Western Civilization is founded and we appear unable to stop them. Are we reaching an inflection point that will mark an inevitable decline of Western Civilization and a regression to a poorer and more violent world?

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You might think I am getting a little overwrought about the progressive woke agenda. But I am not. And if you are not getting worried, then you haven’t been paying attention.

The progressive left that is pursuing the woke agenda of DEI training, antiracism, wealth redistribution and fighting climate change imposed by an ever larger central government is not trying to build on what Western civilization has created over the last five centuries. They are trying to undo all the progress made and revert to an unobtainable egalitarian ideal mimicking the lives of our ancient ancestors. They don’t believe in hard work. They don’t believe in science. They don’t believe in objective reality. They reject personal liberty, private property, economic freedom and the ideal of a colorblind society where people are judged by the content of their character instead of the color of their skin. All these principles and ideals must be sacrificed to the fulfillment of the progressive left agenda.

Don’t believe me? Then go and read the textbook of Critical Race Theory (by Delgado and Stefancic) and How to be an Anti-Racist (by Ibram X. Kendi). I did. These authors make it very clear. They don’t want facts, they want narratives. Everybody has their own personal truth, their lived experience, their identity. And they assert that Western Civilization is not based on Enlightenment philosophy but white supremacy. Just read the 1619 Project. Have questions about how to deal with climate change? Forget it. That science is settled.

They use nice sounding words to hide their true motives. Who can be against diversity, equity and inclusion? Those are very nice sounding, even uplifting objectives. But they are merely cover for identity politics, wealth redistribution and multiculturalism. The leaders of Black Lives Matter (who claim to be trained communists) have taken their opposition to the nuclear family off their website. But that does not mean they don’t still support that concept.

Your participation in this new egalitarian society will not be voluntary, it will be demanded. They require a powerful government to implement their plans. Already they are infiltrating all federal government departments. President Trump tried to block this infiltration, but President Biden reversed his executive order on his first day in office.

This is not some small incremental change that you will only notice after the passage of many years like many of the other advances and improvements we have experienced in our lives thanks to the principles of Western Civilization. This will be transformational change that will convert the United States into something unrecognizable and that will have a profound impact on your daily life. And that of your family

There is a reason why the Soviet Union and Communist China supported the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It allowed them and the other communist countries to assert that they were focusing on delivering social justice while ignoring civil rights. Social justice requires a powerful government to ignore the civil rights that America was created to protect. And Soviet Russia and Communist China were correct – a country cannot pursue both social justice and civil rights, they are incompatible.

The transformational change sought by the progressive left usually can only be accomplished by bloody revolution or conquest by an invading force. But in America, they are using our notions about democracy to undermine our freedom. Many people believe the nice sounding words and even support the entitlements being given away in exchange for their vote. But the transformational change they seek only moves in one direction. Once in power, American democracy will be changed to maintain their grip on power. This has happened in every country the left has taken over. And then it will take that bloody revolution to get our freedom back.