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Hey, Life Isn't Fair

Ruben Navarrett Jr. on

"There is always inequity in life. ... It's very hard. ... to assure complete equality. Life is unfair."

-- President John F. Kennedy

SAN DIEGO -- These days, the most troubling four-letter word in America is spelled F-A-I-R.

It's the demand that more and more citizens are making upon their nation, society, countrymen, government and economic system. It's the goal that we're all striving for, and yet never seem to reach -- which only makes us want it more.

On MSNBC, a network that encourages resentment of the rich, host Ed Schultz drops the "F-word" in a promo.

"We can have a level of protectionism, and still have free trade," Schultz says. "But it's got to be fair."

 

Baloney. The very concept of protectionism is unfair -- to those you're keeping out. If apple growers in Yakima, Wash., decide they can't compete with apples from China and pressure Congress to impose tariffs, that's not fair to the Chinese. Nor is it fair to American consumers, who will pay more for apples.

Many conservatives don't think it's fair that their taxes go to pay for welfare for poor people; many liberals don't think it's fair that rich people don't pay more in taxes.

But, as President Kennedy was telling us more than 50 years ago when he was asked about reservists being called to Vietnam, chasing fairness is a fool's errand. Our personal circumstances are different and so we can't all be equal. Some of us will have head starts, while others will have to overcome obstacles.

I heard the "fair" word last month. During the question-and-answer session of an immigration symposium sponsored by the University of Wyoming, a young woman identified herself as a Canadian student who was attending the university on a visa. She complained that she wasn't allowed to work while going to school, even though her classmates who were U.S. citizens could. In fact, she said, even undocumented students attending the university could work under the table.

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Copyright 2014 Washington Post Writers Group

 

 

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