What is fair? Is life meant to be fair? Is it fair that you
have to be 6’8” to play in the NBA? Is it fair that you have to run fast to be
a marathon runner? Is it fair that you have to be smart to get into Harvard? In
order to make many things that we value fair, we have to change the rules and
then accept the outcomes of those changes.
In order to make access to becoming an NBA player fair we
would have to put in place rules like: there needs to be the same amount of
woman, Asians, Whites, Hispanics, and Black players on every team. These
players would need to be divided into players that are no taller than 5’1”, 5’8”
and 7’0”. This would eliminate the dominance of tall players. We would also
have to include a number of slots for people that are disabled. The list of rules
to make the game fair could go on for pages.
We could take every institution, profession, and employment
opportunity there is and make rules to make the possibility of entry to them
fair but the results would all be the same; fair = distributed misery. There is
no such thing as ensuring fair outcomes without manipulating the inputs. If you
manipulate the inputs it is guaranteed to impact the outcomes in a negative
way.
The rules of the game must be fair. The US Constitution is
the rule of the game for this country. The Constitution offers a guideline for
a limited intrusion into the freedom of the individual. These rules encourage
people with exceptional skills, intellect, and drive to become successful
without the intrusion of government bureaucrats forcing fairness on their
outcomes.
Smart people will always be more successful than not so
smart people. Big strong tall people will always have a better opportunity to
be a professional sports player. People with a propensity to take risks will
always be more likely to be successful entrepreneurs. The federal government
can try to dictate that not so smart people should be smart but unless those
people apply themselves the result will diminish the institutions they are
enrolled in. The federal government can dictate that the NBA hires small
uncoordinated people but the result is the NBA will lose its fans. The federal
government can give money to people to start businesses based on something
other than skill but the result will be less business at a high cost.
You can make the access to opportunity fair by making the
rules of entry the same for everyone. You can try to make the outcome of
results fair but that is a fool’s errand. We are not equal when it comes to
skills, knowledge, God given genes, and drive, so how do you dictate success?
The only way to make outcomes fair is to distribute misery. And that is something the federal government
and all government bureaucracies are really good at… Spreading misery…
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