Fairness?

Fairness in the United States is tricky.

Almost everyone seems to believe that the deck is stacked against them, with the possible exception of the very wealthy.

Clearly we have certain groups that have suffered outright discrimination, at first legally and then simply via custom.

Many working class people whether white, black or Hispanic see how hard it is to live the American dream and feel others get all the breaks.

People who live alternative lifestyles are bullied and to some extent ostracized.

Others feel that Government benefits only help others, whoever they might be.

Many graduates are now saddle with excessive debt that will haunt them for many years.

Drug prices are in many cases outrageous and there is little relief in sight.

Even the way we run our elections lead to undemocratic and unfair outcomes.

The list can go on and on but why?

We have a system that isn't at its essence trying to be fair, its trying to be uninvolved.

The country believes in fairness but doesn't like Government.

Government programs are therefore hard and more complex than they probably need to be, since they are generally designed to catch cheaters as much as to help people.

The press loves to expose people who have cheated the system, to the point where we are forced to jump through hoops to prove what is patently obvious in many cases.

The general nature of our society is that we don't trust people we don't know personally.

Take a Government program like food stamps.  People think of it as a giveaway which is full of abuse, unless you need to get them, in which case it is a program with lots of restrictions for a pretty puny benefit.  Some of the restrictions are illogical and we now want to impose more restrictions.

It is constantly under attack and represents a tiny amount of the budget.  It also is one of the few programs that helps the very poor get some nutrition.

Is it abused?  Well unfortunately it would be impossible to devise a program that has no abuse.

If you don't get food stamps the program is a give away, if you do it is unfair in its restrictions and requirements.

Many of our other programs are the same and part of the reason is we treat them like pariahs.  You don't see many politicians running of how they improved social programs, except about how they reduced corruption and fraud.

Corruption and Fraud are the main attributes of these programs it seems.

Hardly seems fair.