A Conservative Vision of Social Justice

(Hat tip: Rick Garnett at Mirror of Justice)

Former British Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith recently teamed up with Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum to write an Op/Ed piece on "a conservative vision of social justice" for The Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal:

Let's Deploy the 'Little Platoons'
A conservative vision of social justice.

BY IAIN DUNCAN SMITH AND RICK SANTORUM
Friday, September 23, 2005

For all the differences between the United States and Europe, we share a common challenge: how to improve the social well-being of our citizens without a massive growth in the size and intrusiveness of government. We're convinced that conservatism--properly understood--offers the surest road to social justice.

In many conservative circles, "social justice" is synonymous with socialism or radical individualism. No wonder: For decades, the political left has used it as a Trojan horse for its big-state agenda. Yet the wreckage of their policies is obvious. Compared to the U.S., most European economies are struggling with inflation, unemployment, low growth and a declining tax base; nearly all European societies are burdened with increased crime and family breakdown; and there is a draining away of hope and opportunity.

Conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond are charting a new vision of social justice. It recognizes that the problems caused or aggravated by the growth in government cannot be corrected by a crude reduction in its size. Policy must also deliberately foster the growth of what Edmund Burke called "the little platoons" of civil society: families, neighborhood associations, private enterprises, charities and churches. These are the real source of economic growth and social vitality.

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