"Fair" cannot be used as a political argument. Cliche it may be, but life is not fair. It is not fair on a big scale - that we are born into affluent society while others are born in the third world. It is not fair on the small scale - that I invariably get a cold just as I am about to go on holiday. It is not fair that some people think that they can steal from others. It is not fair that one person gets cancer and the next doesn't. It is not fair that some are born more intelligent than others.
The only way that we could get even close to "fair" is to get a communist ideal. No-one gets paid, we put it all into a big pot and share it out evenly, and I mean globally not nationally. But that would also demand that everyone puts in the same amount of effort. Unfortunately communism has been proven not to work because humans are inherently greedy, there are those that will cream off the top and there are those that will feed off the bottom.
We cannot talk about fairness. What we should talk about is responsibility to each other. God has not made things fair, he has given us each responsibility.
Fairness is not the same as social justice, and it is important not to mix the two.
The rich do pay more. The more you earn then the more you pay through taxes.
By paying taxes I have put my bit into the NHS. I have paid my dues. By then electing to go private the money I have paid into the NHS is available for someone else, I am freeing up my "slice" for someone else to use. Rather than not having a private system, it should be expected that those who can afford it should pay for those services, in itself a form of taxation. I get treated more quickly but so does someone else because I am no longer in the queue.
I work hard. Probably too hard as my family suffers at times. That is my choice, I do not do it for the money (I could find better paying jobs if I wanted) but because I enjoy it. That I enjoy my work makes me lucky. But last year I had to sell some of my holiday because I did not have the time to take it all. I was taxed on that and ended up paying a large chunk of my "holiday" to the government who then use it to fight an illegal war. Sorry, but that doesn't seem fair either.
There have to be rewards for effort. Otherwise people will not try. The way that people get paid is certainly out of kilter, jobs with a social responsibility often do not pay enough while someone who can push numbers in the city gets paid obscene amounts. But if you don't have to try then you don't value what you receive (I am careful about the charities I give to on this basis, there is a very interesting book "Dark Star Safari" that considers the actions of charity groups in Africa).
The only way that we could get even close to "fair" is to get a communist ideal. No-one gets paid, we put it all into a big pot and share it out evenly, and I mean globally not nationally. But that would also demand that everyone puts in the same amount of effort. Unfortunately communism has been proven not to work because humans are inherently greedy, there are those that will cream off the top and there are those that will feed off the bottom.
We cannot talk about fairness. What we should talk about is responsibility to each other. God has not made things fair, he has given us each responsibility.
Fairness is not the same as social justice, and it is important not to mix the two.
The rich do pay more. The more you earn then the more you pay through taxes.
By paying taxes I have put my bit into the NHS. I have paid my dues. By then electing to go private the money I have paid into the NHS is available for someone else, I am freeing up my "slice" for someone else to use. Rather than not having a private system, it should be expected that those who can afford it should pay for those services, in itself a form of taxation. I get treated more quickly but so does someone else because I am no longer in the queue.
I work hard. Probably too hard as my family suffers at times. That is my choice, I do not do it for the money (I could find better paying jobs if I wanted) but because I enjoy it. That I enjoy my work makes me lucky. But last year I had to sell some of my holiday because I did not have the time to take it all. I was taxed on that and ended up paying a large chunk of my "holiday" to the government who then use it to fight an illegal war. Sorry, but that doesn't seem fair either.
There have to be rewards for effort. Otherwise people will not try. The way that people get paid is certainly out of kilter, jobs with a social responsibility often do not pay enough while someone who can push numbers in the city gets paid obscene amounts. But if you don't have to try then you don't value what you receive (I am careful about the charities I give to on this basis, there is a very interesting book "Dark Star Safari" that considers the actions of charity groups in Africa).
2 comments:
Well I hesitate to respond given you may well casually dismiss my entire response like you did Sarah's...
And for the record I think talking about fairness or justice as I would perhaps rephrase it is entirely appropriate in the political arena, but anyway I digress.
One of the problems with 'opting out' and going private is that you cease to see first-hand the state of the NHS. And what we don't see we tend not to be too troubled about. Now you couple that with where the power and voice lies in our society and you end up with a crap system failing the disenfranchised and no one who knows how to get their voice heard actively giving a shit.
Or as the bible counsels = we shouldn't become deaf to the cries of the poor - and experience tells us that living in a posh house in a nice neighbourhood, sending our kids to private schools and BUPA tend to act as rather good sound-proofing.
Response is good Liz. It is important to be challenged, not to be able to blithley accept our own beliefs.(and sorry Squeak if it came as a casual dismissal, not quite the tone I was after)
My wife works in the NHS. She is a nurse. That is one of the reasons I believe that the NHS demands a rehaul, but that is a different diatribe. My brother in law was almost killed through the NHS last year, someone else I know was killed (and while that may sound strong, as a medical person, I strongly believe it).
If we accept our responsibilities to others then we do not become deaf to the poor. I disagree that living in a posh house (actually wondering what the definition of that is because I may well be safe) makes you deaf. It can make you grateful, it can make you realise that you are lucky, but not deaf.
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