"Social justice" is a noun referring to justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. The term is thrown around as if it is obviously a noble and good thing to work towards.
There is no question that most faith communities talk about caring for the poor. Jesus said in Matthew 25:40: "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
Pope Francis, speaking for Catholics worldwide said, "The measure of the greatness of a society is found in the way it treats those most in need, those who have nothing apart from their poverty!" Martin Luther King, Jr., the pastor and American civil rights icon, put it simply, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"
Giving to charities that serve the disadvantaged and actively helping those in need is a noble calling. But there is a difference between charity and government entitlements that provide a minimum income, healthcare, and other benefits by taxing others. Our government's founding documents were designed to protect individuals from the overreach and the control of government.
Over time, social justice has become so politically correct that to take a stand against it is anti-Christian, even anti-American. Our capitalistic system has encouraged individual achievement and has created a standard of
living that is the envy of the world. It's by taking personal initiative to work hard and to earn enough to provide for yourself and your family that you can secure your own future. But somehow earning wealth and being rich is
now a leftist sin. That the top 1% of income earners already pay 37.3% of all income taxes isn't enough. Leftists believe they should pay more!
Ha-Joon Chang, author of 23 Things They Don't Tell You about Capitalism, explains social justice from the left's perspective: "Equality of opportunity is not enough. Unless we create an environment where everyone is
guaranteed some minimum capabilities through some guarantee of minimum income, education, and healthcare, we cannot say that we have fair competition. When some people have to run a 100 metre race with sandbags on their legs, the fact that no one is allowed to have a head start does not make the race fair. ... Only when we part with this myth and grasp the political nature of the market and the collective nature of individual
productivity will we be able to build a more just society in which historical legacies and collective actions, and not just individual talents and efforts, are properly taken into account in deciding how to reward people."
Social justice is just another way of justifying socialism. It does not help the disadvantaged; it keeps them dependent on government for their needs. When people are dependent on the government, they're less likely to work towards earning their own American dream.
They still can succeed. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, published "By Our Own Bootstraps." Their research refutes the very notion that America is no longer the land of opportunity: "The University of Michigan Panel Survey of Income Dynamics tracks the income of 3,725 individuals...for the 17 years from 1975 to 1991. To generalize from this Michigan study, over several decades only 1 out of 20 `poor' Americans will stay poor, while 13 will become `middle class' and 6 will become `rich.' Upward mobility is an ongoing process that gathers momentum with time. The message is clear: This is the land of opportunity..."
F.A. Hayek warns, "I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice." Frederic Bastiat calls it government legitimized theft:
"But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at
the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime."
The left clamor with righteous indignation demanding 'rights', 'justice', 'equal rights', without a full understanding how capitalism is the best gift to the American poor. They do not grasp why they remain poor-dependent instead of truly free.
Greg Gutfeld has a way of sharing irreverent truths: "Trump represented a movement of dissatisfaction, the dissent, unhappiness, division cultivated by years of identity politics and the bullying of arrogant, insufferable,
intolerant social justice warriors who used the last two terms to punish anyone who reminded them of Daddy."
A government that acts as a spoiling parent keeping you dependent and victimized is not a caring dad at all. The best parents help you realize that at some point in your life you are responsible for your own success. With a little tough love, they kick you out of the nest to learn to fly on your own. Leaving so many Americans dependent on government may be called social justice but sadly is no justice at all.
Social Justice Is No Justice at All
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