Demanding Justice

Among the virtues of government, preserving and implementing justice stands out. Corruption is not only bad in itself; it also means that government unfairly favors some over others. Not only should government be fair in its own conduct toward citizens, but it is held responsible for securing justice in the lives of citizens. Thus, the tax code should provide adequate revenue for the business of government in a way that distributes the burden fairly; and, thus, criminals should be punished and rectification for the victims secured. Of course it is no simple matter to know what is a fair tax code, how much burden should fall on the wealthy, on capital gains, on wages, on interest, and so on. Nor is it a simple matter to know what action will right a wrong, even assuming that wrong can be set right. Nonetheless, the issue of justice looms large in the judgment we make about our government.

My interest here is not so much in which specific measures constitute fairness, or in the legal code appropriate for dealing with criminal acts. Rather, my interest is in the implications of connecting government to the feelings we have about justice. We tend to take the intensity of feeling provoked by matters of justice for granted. Yet, it is not obvious why justice carries the significance for us that it so often does. In saying this, I do not mean to question the appropriateness of feelings about justice. Rather, I am interested in understanding how virtually all interactions, personal and impersonal, become matters of justice, and what it is about justice that matters as much as it does.

Demanding Justice

We demand justice, and justice makes demands on us. A well known sports figure is accused of a brutal assault on his ex-wife and her lover. He is brought to trial. Family of the victims attend the trial, bearing witness to the often painful and disturbing testimony. By doing so, the family members experience at one remove the brutality of the original crime. When the