The Fairness Doctrine

Fairness has become an important theme in contemporary politics and not just because the electorate – especially the Baby Boomers – are fond of complaining that “it’s not fair”. It doesn’t matter much what that something is or where the complaining is being done: fairness, or the perception of fairness is a thread connecting Washington to Paris via London.

Here, the coalition’s welfare reforms are analysed in terms of their “fairness”; in France, protestors complain that pension reforms aren’t “fair” while in the United States there’s a widespread sense that the game is “unfairly” rigged against the common man. Each case is different but in each there’s a palpable sense that the public think it is being asked to make sacrifices to pay for other people’s mistakes.

Which is kind of true. The rutted state of the American economy may be the primary cause of woe for Democrats tonight but it’s not the only one (see Ross