Has "fairness" become more important than freedom?

Since there has been a lot of talk by one individual, I will just respond to the original qestion. PollyAndry is, of course, welcome to comment on my response. Fairness does not equal freedom. Actually, to some extent, fairness is the oposite of freedom. In a completely free society, people are allowed to make their own decisions in any way they see fit. This would include not hiring someone who is homosexual if the owner feels that they will do a poor job. It also includes people not buying a company's goods because they do or do not hire homosexuals. (Obviously, homosexuality was used as an example.) Also, in a free society, people would be allowed to do anything they desire on their own property as long as it does not harm anyone else. To cut a long rant short, freedom does not equal fairness. I was born to two parents, one of whom had a pretty good job my whole life. Someone else may have been born to a single mother making minimum wage. Is this fair to the child? No, not really. Does that mean that the government should collect all of the income from my parents and his mother and then give half of it to each of us. I SURE HOPE NOT. I find it fascinating that 50 years ago the average American was fighting for capitalism and was against socialism and communism. Now, the communists have convinced the average American that capitalism is evil and should be replaced. The average American's beliefs fall almost squarely on the ideas from the "Communist Manifesto". In a completely free society, I have every opportunity to be whatever I want. In a completely fair society, I can only be one thing, what everyone else is.

Yes making it against the law to place symbols of Christianty on public or government property is wrong. Our Congress says prayers before each of their meetings. And also all our constitution's laws are taken from the Bible. So that's saying that it's fair to be anti Christian in this society but let other interests and beliefs have their say.

The ironic thing is, "Fairness" has become a religion. Complete with dogma, doctrine and rituals. Also like religion, it is used as an excuse for abuse, bigotry and hatred. In your example of Christian symbols. Isn't it ironic how often Christian symbols are removed because they "promote a religion", but then symbols of other religions or spirituality are allowed to stay up. In the name of "fairness" we have denied jobs, political appointments, admission to schools and other things to people who are more qualified. In the name of "fairness" we have punished in the present, "to make up for the mistakes of the past". In other words, in the name of "fairness" we have denied fairness. The fact is: Fairness isn't fair and equality is never equal~ ParaTed2k's (Not So) Famous Sayings

In all of the talk about fairness and equal rights, the most fundamental right has been relegated to the back of the bus. That is the right of the individual. Our individual rights and freedoms have been trampled and lay broken by the stampede of fairness to all. The greater good has trumped the rights of the few, or the one. This is how society nows views freedom and fairness to all. In order to achieve fairness to all, fairness to a few has to be sacrificed. The non-smokers rights have now become more important than the smokers rights. This is one of the most glaring examples, but not the only one. In order to achieve the goals of overall freedoms and fairness, little groups must necessarily give way to the larger group, the collective, if you will. A few years ago I learned a new term. It was some time during the Clinton Era, and was being used to express his political stance. He was said to consider himself a Statist. Statism, as it was then explained, is where the greater good is favored even though some individual rights may be lost along the way. The needs of the whole outweigh the needs of the few or the individual. This would explain the herd mentality that we are witnessing today, and why Clinton has remained popular despite his shortcomings. This view makes me think of Socialism, and that has been a goal of the Democrats for a very long time. It don't care what they want to call it, a rose by any other name... If we don't wake up very soon, soon it will be too late. While the ideas of fairness are good, and everyone should be treated the same, at the same time this should not be done at the cost of individual freedom and right to free choice.

I agree with you. A lot of every day to day Americans do as well. The problem is that those every day Americans are not in the government. Somehow we've let the people who care more about fairness than right, take hold of the government we have. I don't know if this can every be rectified, but it sure as heck won't if we don't stand up and do something about it.

We need more capitalism. Government handouts only encourage laziness. Affirmative action only encourages laziness. Why try, why work hard to climb the ladder when I can take the elevator because I'm black? The only way to have racial equality is to be completely color blind. Take the "please state your ethnicity" questions off surveys, job applications, and standardized tests. Take small children, for example. Young white kids play with the young black kids until their racist parents tell them that black kids are bad. The white kids, who liked their friends and didn't notice nor care that their skin was a different color, learn to hate. I've seen it happen time and again. A lot of American thought is based on the celebration of diversity. When you point out differences in people, it gives rise to hate. To re-forge ourselves as a strong, unified nation, we need to celebrate our similarities. We need to celebrate our American-ness, not our African American-ness, or Indian American-ness, or Chinese American-ness, or Mexican American-ness....