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Home » Bill Moyers: Justice & Fairness Against the Lottery!

The fundamental conclusion I’ve reached after 79 years and a lot of work is that life is lottery.
I don’t buy this argument that people are self-made; our opportunities are presented to us – how we resolve them, how we exploit them, how we respond to them are the result of education and circumstance. and reading, and DNA.
It seems to me that a just society takes that into consideration says that for people who didn’t win the lottery, they should not be cast off on a desert island and resigned to hell.
BECAUSE LIFE IS A LOTTERY AND WE DON’T CHOOSE OUR SUCCESS AND OUR FAILURE, WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO EACH OTHER AS MEMBERS OF THE SAME SPECIES TO TRY TO CREATE A SOCIETY WHERE LOTTERY IS A DETERMINANT, BUT IS NOT DECISIVE IN THE QUALITY OF THAT LIFE.
I have discovered I have not met a poor parent who does not want for his or her child the very same things that the wealthiest parents want.
It’s been lottery more than anything else that’s determined who gets what in this society.
A SOCIETY THAT WANTS JUSTICE AND FAIRNESS HAS TO WORK TO BALANCE THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF THE LOTTERY.
Bill Moyers

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