What Would a Just Society Really Cost?

You do not have, because you do not ask.
The Letter of James, 4:2, NRSV

Pierre Elliot Trudeau was a great man. He coined the term "Just Society". When you come to think of it, all great men in history had their own slogan(s). Ponder that for a moment Dear Reader. It doesn't matter if they were statesmen, writers, philosophers or scientists. It is a really powerful rule of thumb that the Oracle of Ottawa has discovered over the many years. Greatness has its own individual trademark signature slogan. Is this man great? The answer will come to you or not, if you can, or cannot, identify that man with a great signature idea that can be encapsulated in a slogan. Try it out in your head with so called great people of today. Works great don't it?

Pierre Elliot Trudeau and Jimmy Carter...

 Prime Minister Trudeau took a lot of heat over the years from his many detractors and all Conservatives about the Just Society. Is it here yet? When do you expect it will come? But all the while they were simply working for Pierre Elliot Trudeau. They were even helping the great man keep the brilliant ideal of the golden idea ever alive and on men's lips. That Trudeau was a pretty crafty fellow wasn't he?

The Oracle of Ottawa has often pondered why no one has actually sat down and costed out what the Just Society would actually cost. Then the Oracle of Ottawa realized that no one has actually sat down and defined what the Just Society even is! If one goes on a trip, a destination is assumed, otherwise you are just going on a long walk. One of the first steps to the achievement of the Just Society is to define it. This sounds all pretty straight forward, but it will take a gargantuan effort to see the limits of it defined. It will also take major legislation, to provide the framework. Possibly even constitutional change, but the Oracle of Ottawa strongly doubts that, although it will be used by many to avoid the issue.

For those few of you that know about such things, you already know the dark secret. You already know that every time a more perfect society is actually costed out in full, it always results in an answer that is totally shocking. The answer is that most of the Just Society is already in place in Canada and the United States of America, and all the other so called developed nations that exist on Earth today! And when the monetary cost is calculated for all the dreamt of Rolls Royce / Cadillac social programs, there is always the shock of "it would only cost that little bit more"!? Then the plans and spreadsheets are shelved and if done in a Conservative setting, destroyed. The nut of the tale is Dear Reader, that we don't have the Just Society because we refuse to ask for it.

Because we don't ask for it, most if not all political planning is focused on getting power and keeping it. Instead of setting a destination of the Just Society most all political parties are only intent on the long walk. Or in more simple and forceful language; Four More Years! Plus or minus of course depending on where you live.  When are we going to get the Just Societies we want? When are we going to stand up all at once and ask for it?