I recently posted about my realization that the word “loyal” comes from the same root as “legal”, growing through the feudal era where law and personal obligation were closely intertwined. This led me to contemplate how the virtue of Loyalty might be applied in balance with another virtue: Justice.
As usual, let us come up with some working definitions. Loyalty, in this case, is allying oneself with others in a organization defined by rules: a nation, a club, a family. Loyalty of this sort is key to the functioning of society, the binding force that makes “e pluribus unum” happen. Justice as a personal virtue is creating and maintaining fairness and equity when you encounter injustice in the world around you.
In an ideal world, these two precepts would not come into conflict. However, in an ideal world, guiding principles would not be necessary at all. In practice, the hierarchy of any organization is prone to corruption by Greed, Cowardice, Wrath, and other vices. The equity that should flow naturally from a well ordered society is lost, and it falls to the individual to right the wrongs that the system does not address.
Now in this non-ideal situation, the easy path is to choose one virtue over the other and stick to it. Loyalty dictates that the structure of society must be maintained, despite its flaws, to avoid falling into chaos. Justice leads one to do what is right in spite of — and sometimes in opposition to — the flawed system. The former path perpetuates injustice, while the latter is inefficient, uneven, and hard to sustain. Those who dig in and maintain Loyalty to an unjust status quo often end up on the wrong side of history despite their best efforts and good intentions. A rebellion in search of Justice that intends to secure its gains must inevitably create a new system to replace the old. This new system will face the same challenges, and the cycle will begin anew.
So what is the middle path between Loyalty and Justice? Those who truly seek to fix an unjust system must work within it, not simply against it. Those who seek to maintain order must work to root out corruption and create justice where it has been lost. This is the hard work of governance and leadership, unheroic and neverending. It is a place of small victories and uncomfortable compromises, but it is work that must be done if we want to live in a society that we can truly be proud of.