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an individual, social justice advocates push for one set of
cronies to be replaced by another. Independent of any
inherent unfairness, this system rewards people who use
the political process to gain privileges for those who possess
legally favored characteristics. When the law allows
unequal treatment because of group characteristics, it
encourages cronyism.
The ideologies of social justice have the potential to
contribute to either liberalism or cronyism. In the cases
where feminism and theories of social justice helped to
eradicate privileges or extend them universally, these
policies strengthened liberalism in the United States and
reaffirmed the role of voluntary association in resource
distribution. On the other hand, these same ideologies
have in recent times tilted toward cronyism; policies like
comparative worth and affirmative action legislatively
grant privileges to certain groups at the expense of others,
pushing those groups to use the political process to
maintain and expand the favorable treatment the law provides
to them.
Social justice is a sensitive topic—one that deserves
a lengthy discussion partly because fairness is a justly
important political goal and partly because in contemporary
politics lawmakers and policy analysts often cite
the goal of social justice as a reason for establishing laws
that lead to cronyism. Creating an environment in which
everyone has an equal opportunity is a noble goal, but if
legislators pursue that goal by passing laws that favor some
groups over others, they create political incentives for
people to work to have their groups be favored. One result
is that people substitute unproductive political activity
for productive economic activity. Another result is that
86 LIBERALISM AND CRONYISM