The Slippery Slope of Fairness

If I could ban the word “fair” from political speech I would. Life is not fair. And politicians cannot make life fair. But fair is probably the most frequently used (and abused) word in the political lexicon.

The problem with using the word fair in political speech is that fairness is subjective. What seems fair to one person may be seen as unfair by another person. There is no objective standard that can be applied to determine if some policy is fair. The primary determinant of whether some thing or some policy is fair is self-interest. If that policy benefits you, you will think it a fair policy. If the policy does not work to your benefit you will think it unfair.