The curve of history bends toward justice as Martin Luther King Jr. asserted many times. Echoing him our new President Barack Obama has used this idea on several occasions to talk about the role he intends to play in shaping the future of the United States.
No doubt many of you – particularly those who did not support Obama and those who are fashionably apathetic – have grown weary of all this talk of the presidential inauguration of its history and politics and oft-touted change.
But fear not Republicans and people who couldn’t care less the next presidency will have its greatest significance beyond any particular policy: this era will see a cosmopolitan expansion of the sphere of justice. For all who fail to grasp the political philosophical substance of this nomenclature let me explain.
The sphere of justice is the aspects of society that are demanded by a widespread sense of moral requirement – police security the pursuit of happiness and mailmen are all aspects of our current sphere of justice. (We would dub our society unjust if it lacked these elements.) The consistent expansion of the sphere of justice is precisely what King was expostulating in his “just arc of history.” The age initiated by Obama will be an important point on the curve.
If you are looking for a synonymous moment in history think of the advent of Franklin Delano Roosevelt with the New Deal and how that transformed society’s consideration of basic justice (think Social Security). In the same way Obama’s presidency will mark a new age in American and world politics.
This new era will push the mentality of the nation to the ideological left in the inevitable process of expanding the role of justice. Just as the sphere of justice was expanded to include women and African Americans in past democratic eras the sphere will grow into realms of universal healthcare or environmentalism for example. The corruption of our health care system and the wanton destruction of our environment will encourage society to demand social justice.
I am not praising the Democratic Party or the policies they advocate (I actually also think the expansion of justice will see the elimination of abortion). I am merely trying to highlight a natural trend that pushes our conceptions of what is just to new grounds. This is a perfectly healthy and moral process of history and is something that Republicans should not be afraid of; what is considered conservative today was once raging liberal. The trick is to make the transition methodically and carefully so as not to rip apart our society in the process (think the French Revolution).
As for why I call it a cosmopolitan expansion of justice I believe the sphere of justice has little elsewhere to go on the merely national level so it will push naturally into the realm of the international level transforming the way people think about other nations and about institutions such as the EU and the UN. Stronger convictions of justice will increasingly temper our views of these international matters. No longer will our nation be content with a semi-operational impotent world government and our developing sense of justice will demand not only supporting the UN but also strengthening its structure to achieve further unity and peace around the world.
Under the leadership of Obama and the subsequent democratic era that it sparks the curve of history will bend toward justice a fact that should inspire all citizens of the United States – the world’s forerunner for its pursuit.