Utopia, Justice, and Disasters

An article in BusinessWeek's September 26 issue, on page 146, by Laura D'Andrea Tyson, titled "Land of Unequal Opportunity" highlights succinctly the issue of the responsibility of the rich towards the poor in a just society, like utopia. Some statistics from the article:

The pretax income of the top 1% of Americans is greater than the bottom 40% combined.

The household wealth of the top 1% of Americans is greater than the bottom 90% combined.

The proposed repealed estate tax benefits this 1% of the population the most, with two-thirds of the benefits going to them. While the government, of the people, by the people, for the people, has to content with a reduction of an estimated $745 billion over 10 years, while dealing with the increase cost of health care, pension plans, and the demand for higher education.

Another good point mentioned in the article is the faith people, especially poor people place on the government, especially in the event of disasters. Here is the lead paragraph of the article:

"Just days before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the U.S. Census Bureau published its annual report on income in America. The poverty rate increased in 2004 for the fourth year in a row, and 37 million Americans (12.7% of the population) were living in poverty - 4 million more than in 2001, despite three years of economic recovery. Sadly, more than 15 million of these improverished Americans, many of them children, lived in households headed by full-time workers."

I previously mentioned the responsibility of the top 5% of the population towards the bottom 10%. I pulled these figures out of thin air as an initial estimate of the disparity, the skewed distribution of wealth in the population. In the case of Americans, the curve is even more skewed than that. The ratio is more like 1% to 13%.

No matter what the ratio may be, the responsibilities are the same. And the article raised a very good point, regarding the needs during an emergency event, such as natural disasters. There are also disasters to consider, such as personal health and accidents. We already have many altruistic organizations helping the poor, the sick, and the displaced. But the support for these great organizations are mainly from grass-root average citizens. It is time for the very rich to dedicate themselves to the advancement of the very poor. Bill Gates already poured billions into his foundation for many worthwhile causes. If all of the top 5% of America walk their talk of justice and opportunities for all, then utopia is not far behind. Until then, any talk of equality and justice is nothing more than that.

It is true that life is not fair, and that justice is an ideal created out of human society. Nature has never been fair or just. Nineteenth century laissez-faire proponents have always used Darwinian arguments of survival of the fittests for their predatory policies against the weak. We have seen how wrong they were during the Second World War. When society abandon the poorest and the weakest members, some other group becomes next in line. Society is a result of a social contract that protects everyone from the strongest. Without it, we are all in peril, especailly in times of crisis. That's when we need civility the most.

Instead of a bloated government bureaucracy to regulate the rich fulfilling their responsibility towards the poor, it should be a voluntary, self-regulated social action. Instead of an army of accountants deciding who belongs in the top 5%, and who belongs in the bottom 10%, it is much more efficient for each person to decide according to conscience. Furthermore, with their proven abilities, the rich will certainly be able to come up with ideas and methods to help, which are beyond that of a bureaucracy. The Cold War has proven that free-enterprise is more effective than central planning.

Utopia is not a matter of governmental regulations of the citizens, but each person making every decision to land on the right side of the Solzhenitsyn line, dividing good and evil, that runs through every heart, regardless of race, creed, or ideology. Doing the right thing sometimes require governmental intervention, sometimes simply social and peer pressure. The correct balance between the two depends on the social context. In utopia, it will be mostly the latter; in today's Land of Unequal Opportunity, it may be more of the former.