As the conservative movement wrestled with how to face newly elected President Barack Obama, Phyllis Schlafly was writing about a term that would come to define America under the Obama administration. This new term was “social justice.” Phyllis Schlafly correctly identified social justice as a banner under which liberal identity politics is found. Let’s take a look at the January 2009 Phyllis Schlafly Report and learn more about our biggest enemy in the culture war.
Social justice is inseparable from the concept of identity politics – the targeting specific groups for support by saying that another group is causing them harm or disadvantage. Social justice provides the moral imperative to end those disparities between peoples at any cost.
Aside from its close ties to identity politics, the primary defining feature of social justice is its close ties to the anti-American sentiment that pollutes many college campuses. This unpatriotic feeling is illustrated perfectly by one of social justice’s foremost proponents. Bill Ayers started his life as a social justice warrior by founding a group of domestic terrorists called Weather Underground. His organization proclaimed their mission to be overthrowing the United States government by bombing public buildings like the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon.
You might assume that a terrorist like Bill Ayers would be locked away in prison, but he actually enjoyed his freedom by becoming a professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Ayers’ radical anti-Americanism fit in perfectly with his teachings. Social justice teaches that America is corrupt and skewed in favor of the privileged to the detriment of the poor and disadvantaged. As Ayers put it, “This society is not a just and fair and decent place.”
Of course, his statement couldn’t be further from the truth. America is the most “socially just” nation the world has ever known. Anyone, regardless of skin color, sex, ethnicity, or wealth, can prosper with hard work and wise choices. Let’s make sure the next generation knows that optimism and patriotism ought to be the attitude of anyone fortunate enough to enjoy the fruits of American society.
