Justice: concepts, history, and philosophical perspectives

¶ … Society

The first items addressed in this particular just society are the principles of liberty that shall apply to each individual as well as to the overall society. The first principle of liberty will be the right to an unlimited freedom of speech that will pertain to each and every person. This right will be sacrosanct and will be defended and upheld by all. Assuming that each individual will act in a just manner, this right should permeate throughout society and should be the one right that is held true and steadfast by all.

The second principle of liberty for the proposed just society is the freedom to choose whatever path the individual wishes to travel, as long as that path does not negatively impact others who have chosen different directions. The right to make decisions bears with it the right of responsibility for those decisions. If the individual makes a bad choice or decision, the consequences still need to be felt, just as if the decision were good, the benefits would be felt.

According to John Rawls the basic liberties include the freedom of thought and the freedom of speech to which I strongly agree. When a just society attempts to limit those freedoms, it allows itself (or specific members of society) to determine exactly manner of speech is acceptable, and what manner of speech is not acceptable. At the same time, those who attempt to limit speech usually attempt to limit only the speech that they disagree with, they do not attempt to limit their own speech, language or content. Control such as this, even on a platonic level, can quickly get out of hand. Therefore, the first principle of liberty shall be vigorously defended throughout the land, even if it means that the speech is negative, biased or racist in nature.

Rawls also promoted the freedom of movement and the freedom of choice. Obviously since the second principle of liberty closes aligns with Rawls thoughts, the author agrees with those particular Rawls preachings.

This society however, does nto agree with Rawls when he speaks of redistribution of wealth. His general concept of all social primary good distributed equally does not make sense in a truly free society. Instead, in this particular society a mixed approach will be taken to ensure the maximum amount of liberty is granted to every individual. A maximum amount of liberty ensures that every citizen will be allowed to choose his or her own path through life, but with that liberty will also come responsibilities. Those responsibilities will include a duty to God, family, and country. Since a belief in God necessitates a belief that there is something out there bigger than one's self, then that belief shall be adhered to by contributing back to society through ones actions. The second responsibility is to one's family and that includes extended family, while the third belief coincides with the first, which is a duty to one's country.

Since this society is one of maximum freedom, the government will be limited to defending the community, and caring for those who cannot care for themselves through either disabilities or accidents. If an individual chooses a wrong pathway and suffers the consequences, that individual will be responsible for repairing that damage and making things right. It will not be the responsibility of the government to help that person. It will be the responsibility of the government to protect the members of society from both internal and external dangers. The government will do so with no power to tax its citizens at more than 10% of their income.

Each citizen will be required to pay into a pool of funds on a yearly basis; funds that the government can then use to aid in the defense of the citizens as well as addressing the well-being of those members of society suffering from disabilities or accidents.

As Thomas Paine once wrote referring to America "there the poor are not oppressed, the rich are not privileged" (Rights of Man, p. 164). That is the same society which is projected here. Each man, women and child shall have the right to say, do and choose as they wish. But let us reiterate the consequences of those choices must be accepted by each individual, it cannot be anything less. The truly just society would demand it, and it is only through those demands that a truly just society could survive and thrive.