"Justice is the harmonious arrangement of conflicting parts."
Our society likes to set each "part" against the other in order to strengthen every individual part, mistakenly believing that strong parts will make a strong whole. Only problem is, this inevitably leads to disharmony which upsets the very whole itself. Strong parts at war with each other do not make for a strong whole, and the whole is always greater than the sum of it's parts. This is why I believe liberalism is fundamentally unwise. No society lasts when each part is jealous of the other.
A decent society needs wise rulers, courageous warriors, and citizens who understand the importance of moderation.
Our society places a big emphasis on self-indulgence. Plato (and every real doctor) would hate this. Our culture promotes an endless, unsatisfying cycle of desire and gratification that only leads to mental and physical sickness. No wonder the majority of young people are depressed! Our culture is a tyranny of desire. Advertisements program us to want things we don't need and feel inadequate without them. On social media, "keeping up with the Joneses" has become "keeping up with the most rich and famous influencers in the world". American freedom has become a tyranny in the most intimate sense, where each individual is tyrannized by the lowest parts of his or her self.
Endless, dynamic competition has many economic benefits, but it comes at the price of charity, trust and benevolence. Jealous political leaders do not care for their people. Jealous men and women do not make good husbands and wives. People jealous of others will not help their neighbors and a society of jealous people erodes all trust. Competition and meritocracy breeds jealousy, both among the most and least competent citizens. Those at the bottom become jealous of their superiors. Those at the top become jealous of their power and believe themselves to be better than others. There's no sense of unity or cohesion in a liberal society. The only thing that unites us is our shared ambition to get one over on our fellow citizen.
I hope when this game is finished, we're all able to come together and form some sort of order that's just in the highest sense. Trump has been talking more about unity lately and I think that's more relevant than people realize. Harmonious unity (not government-enforced uniformity) is the basis of a just society. I really hope we can return to it in some form.
You mean we need Jesus Christ.