Ali Neden
far greater assets than the others, and these assets have also not been gained through hard work, merely by either luck or the position you were born with. In short, the leaders of a Marxist state will not only be in charge of great amounts of power and wealth but they could also not be in possession of it due to inborn talent. This great inequality of wealth between the political elite and their subjects also contradicts Marxist theories ideas, that all mean are equal. As George Orwell writes in his novel Animal Farm , ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.’ Lastly, Marxist theory in practice often leads to many injustices and inequalities caused by the political elite. The ordinary member of society is affected badly by the government and thus in the future there will be inequalities toward that member, which justifiably should be rectified. However, I believe that Marxist theory is incorrect in its ways of eradicating inequality and arguing the inequality can’t be justified, as this leads to more inequality. Nevertheless, I do believe that inequality should be combatted in some way.
Functional social equality states that inequality shall always exist and is a natural process. There is an ever changing power circle where one group of society is more powerful than another at a certain point in time, but later will be less powerful. It states that an over- powerful state will intrude too much on society and create more inequality and that the only approach is to let society balance out the inequality (of course having a government instituted by that society to implement these actions). As John Rawls points out in his Principle of Justice, there are basic liberties that should be upheld to sustain this functional social equality: freedom of speech, of thought, from arrest and to own personal property. These, along with his second principle, about benefitting the neediest in society, will seek to prevent inequality. Therefore I believe that inequality is justified as it is a natural cause of events. 1 Inequalities that come about that do not infringe on the life of others e.g. inborn talents are justifiable. Although there are inequalities that cannot be truly justified there are solutions to them, mainly through society’s choice of taxing the rich to benefit the needy, and thus the inequalities themselves are justified as they are a necessity to try to rectify the problems; it is a vicious circle of inequality.
My views on the matter are very much aligned with the ideas of functional social equality.
1 Mankind is blessed in its capability for free thought and this is what leads to inequality. If we are to have free thought, we must have inequality; it is a necessary evil.
14
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker