Income Inequality John Rawls

During the presidential elections many issues arise, one of which is income inequality. The idea of economic reality and how people earn, use and distribute their property is the basic starting point for understanding the nature of inequality in society. The debate arises on what gives a person right to property, and whether or not the government has the right to redistribute property from those more wealthy in order to create equality for those who have less. Of course, people can and will differ on whether any of this constitutes a “fair” tax system. Depending on one’s politics and personal situations, some would are for a more social economic structure, and others for a libertarian one. Finding the right balance has become quite the controversy.
Rawls contends that when we consider how to make an equitable society, we have to envision that we are all set under a "veil of ignorance," where we don't know anything about the different economical and social preferences that we are naturally introduced to. Principle one is that "Each person has the same indefeasible claim to a fully adequate scheme of equal basic liberties, which scheme is compatible with the same scheme of liberties for all.” Principle two on the other hand states "Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two conditions: first, they are to be attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity; and second, they are to be to the greatest benefit of the least-advantaged members of society." A portion of Rawls appeal lies in the way that there is something in it for everybody. Liberals and libertarians accentuate principle 1, whereas the socialist would back up principle 2. Together these pieces give a philosophical establishment to American liberal vote based system, and Rawls basically fabricated a practical rationale to legitimize
There was once a time when liberty involved the right to enslave another, whether it was for gender or race. Today, liberty means the right to enslave another, namely the worker. By destroying this right, we are fulfilling justice and duty, just as the revolutionaries of centuries past, whose goal it was to see the chains taken from the slave, so that a person will be recognized for who they are, and not as property of the workplace. Slavery has debased the soul by denying that an individual is incapable of passion, beyond the scope of thought and foresight. Capitalism has debased the mind and the body; it fills people with the lies that a corporate thief has the right to the wealth we create, and it steals from them those eight hours, from moments they could be equally enjoying their lives instead of working so hard for bare minimum. Capitalism puts people in those brutish conditions of work, in those ceaseless hours, making them produce their wealth. A socialist economic system represents an attempt to eliminate such economic inequalities and exploitation. The goals of socialist system include destroying the class system and thereby ending the exploitation, oppression and alienation of workers, replacing greed and the profit motive with concern for collective well-being. Socialism differs from capitalism in a sense that the means of production and distribution in a society are collectively rather than privately owned.