The dictionary definition of social justice is “the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within a society.” In many Americans eyes this means equal justice.

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According to Pachamama.org it means, “the equal distribution of resources and opportunities, in which outside factors that categorize the people are irrelevant.” In a perfect world there would be no bias based on income, gender, race, etc., but the world is not.

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I agree with Michael Lundholm, a Politics Philosophy teacher, with what he wrote on Quora.com.

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He explains we are not all born equal, some are born into wealth, and some are born into poverty or how kindly he puts it, “some are winners from birth; some are losers from birth- through no fault of their own,” he stated. “To play the market game requires money, the playing field does not start level; the game is rigged.” As you all know Americans are not all the same class, things are not distributed equally such as jobs.

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Some statistics I have gathered from federalsafetynet.com displays the poverty in America.

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“5% of adults with a college degree or higher are living in poverty, 2% full- time workers, 9% seniors, and 18% of children.” Some of these people could have been born into poverty with no opportunities to get out of it, and some are in poverty because of their lifestyles but what about those who went to college and have a degree that can not find a job in their field? They put themselves through debt for a promise of a job to live off of. So wealth is not equally distributed.

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“Food insecurity- the lack of access, at times, to enough food for all household members. 1 in 6 people go hungry,” reports dosomething.org. Their site states that 40% of food gets thrown out every year in America which equals around $165 billion, and that could feed 25 million Americans. Food is not evenly distributed.

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In The 2016 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to congress there are 549,928 homeless Americans. 39,471 of those Americans are Veterans, and 22% are children. Veterans, disabled, and children should all be taken care of. Resources are not evenly distributed, such as homes to Americans.

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No one is treated equally. People act out and others pay the consequences such as crime.

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Recorded American crimes in 2014 from fbi.gov showed that there were 1,165,383 violent crimes such as murder, rape, robberies, and homicides. There are also 8,277,829 property crimes and $14.3 billion of financial losses by the victims whose property has been vandalized or violated. So crime creates inequality too.

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There are so many people in America who are in need of help. Social justice is a fairy tale that could never happen because how do we make all American’s equal? How could a doctor who worked hard in school for his career be compared to an uneducated garbage man? Their pay and benefits should be different. It would not be fair if both jobs were paid equal and the benefits were equal because the jobs and the path it took to get there are on two different levels. But there are those out there like the people who went to college and couldn’t find a job and now live in poverty do deserve our help. I do believe us all should try and take care of one another. With this being said I only feel American’s should help fellow Americans. But American’s took this social justice a bit too far and are trying to help fellow countries.

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According to cfr.org, America’s government pays for more than 200 countries aid. The top 5 being Afghanistan ($5.5 billion), Israel ($3.1 billion), Iraq ($1.8 billion), Egypt ($1.5 billion), and Jordan ($1.1 billion). The government spent $49 billion dollars in 2015 on resources for Foreign Assistance. This is insane. Do not get me wrong I feel bad for those in the other cultures who don’t have food, healthcare, or even education but like they say you can’t help someone else get organized if you’re not even organized yourself. American needs to help within America first before trying to save other countries. That money needs to go into our own health care for the millions of American’s who do not have it and that money also can feed the starving kids we have right here in America.

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Social Justice is a nice concept but in reality it is impossible but we should watch out for each other and take care of America before trying to save other countries.