"Fairness" as a value and the political process

[Ken Diamond <kd@bmwinc.com>]

What is the chance for fairness to emerge from the political process?
If past performance the best predictor of the future, what is likely
to make current politicians different from their predecessors? How
will the expanding role of interest and advocacy group in the
political process affect fairness? Look at what James E. Burton,
Chief Executive Officer, California Public Employees' Retirement
System had to say at the White House Conference on Social Security
about including only newly hired employees in the system
http://www.network-democracy.org/social-security/bb/whc/cpers.html.
"The issue, the advocates say, is simply a matter of "fairness,"
that the Social Security program should be "universal." "Fairness"
is in the eyes of the beholder."

If fairness exists only in the "eyes of the beholder," then all
opinions are equally valid and the power to get your way is all
that matters. If however you believe that the search for truth,
even while acknowledging our human limitations to precisely knowing
it, is important, then we must reject such relativistic quagmires.
Yet I think that the political process is concerned about serving
interest group constituencies even if the interests of fairness
demand otherwise.