Social justice and economic justice are pretty simple to understand actually; the concept is that people who live in communities (that would be a majority of the population) should work together and help each other out when necessary. This is how the human race flourished throughout history and continues to flourish today; if not for mutual cooperation, the human race would not survive. At our lowest common denominator human beings can be classified as "social mammals"; in that regard, we are no different then wolves, penguins, whales, dolphins, meerkats and other social animals whose survival depends on the cooperation and support of everybody in their community. I think we can all agree that this was the one good aspect of Communism; of course, the bad part was all the rest of Communism which includes the fact that Communist governments invariably ended up with too much power. The US government, on the other hand, has checks and balances to ensure that power is balanced; therefore, it would never get to the point of outright communism or fascism unless an out-of-control zealot seized control and nobody stopped him ("Executive Privilege" ring a bell for you Beck?). We were actually in more danger of that during the Bush-Cheney administration than at any other time in recent history. The Obama Administration hasn't tried to use Executive Privilege to get away with or cover up anything.
The reforms that Obama and progressive Democrats want to enact are justified and do not come anywhere close to being communist, socialist or fascist. Listen up people; if you are a fan of Glenn Beck you need to get your heads out of your asses and think for yourselves! If you are convinced that health care reform has anything to do with socialism then you have not read up on it and you are misinformed. Do yourselves a favor, stop listening to the talking heads on cable news and start doing your own research; go to opencongress.org where you can read up on all of the bills currently being proposed by your congressional representatives.
OK, now that I've had my time on the soap box let's hear from Roger Ebert in regard to Glenn Beck's recent idiotic blatherings:
What are the words "social justice" code for? Why, Nazism and Communism, says Beck: "Social justice was the rallying cry--economic justice and social justice--the rallying cry on both the communist front and the fascist front." Beck even went so far as to cite Jesus Christ, saying, and I quote: "Nowhere does Jesus say, Hey, if somebody asks for your shirt, give your coat to the government and have the government give them a pair of slacks." Well, Beck has me there. It is quite true that nowhere does Jesus say that. Nor, for that matter, does he ever say, A wop bop a lu bop, a wop bam boom!
What I would enjoy hearing is one single clergyman from any faith in America, appearing on Beck's program to agree with him and denouncing social justice. Such a person might be a real piece of work. I suspect he might currently be in between congregations. Beck's oversight is that all religions teach social justice. That's sort of what they're about. "My church doesn't," said Beck, who is a Mormon. Not for the first time, he was dead wrong, and the mountains of Utah rang with the thunder of outraged Mormon elders. I know now, and did not know before, that before statehood the Mormons in the Utah territory provided universal health care and care for the poor as a matter of their duty.
Thank you Roger!
