What is fair?

Sense of fairness has taken over our society. We hear it all the time. We used to only hear it from children. Health care must be overhauled and started over because it isn't fair that so many people don't have health insurance. The tax system must be progressive because it isn't fair to the people who don't earn as much. Even television gets into it. I read a message Board for the Biggest Loser and constantly read people saying the award system should be changed because it isn't fair to this person or that.

I mention children because using fairness as a measure for public policy is childish. Governments and officials of all activities have to use objective standards. To use fairness as a measure you have to use something to compare to. To say something is unfair to party A you must know what party B has. Public policy must encourage people to be the best they can be. Public policy based on fairness encourages people to not excel but to compare their situation with someone else and cry fowl.

The Constitution never set up fairness as a yard stick. Everything written into the founding document was a rule book to encourage each citizen to excel and pursue their vision of excellence. The first ten amendments all placed limits on government not individuals. Nearly every piece of legislation today puts limits on individuals and gives power to government. Given that truth it is no wonder President Obama is trying to discover the magic formula to create jobs. Go back to limiting government and take the shackles off from individuals and you will have more jobs than we can fill.