[Verse 1] Picture a card table before the deal is dealt, Nobody's peeking at the hand that they'll be felt, Rawls calls it the veil, a fog you can't see through, You might wake up a king or a kid without a shoe, So you'd write the rules fair, 'cause you don't know your place, Behind that curtain, everyone's got an equal face, This is the original position, the thought that he designed, Fairness is the contract that the blindfold helps you find. [Chorus] Veil down, hearts true, nobody knows their view, Rawls says fair is what you'd pick not knowing it was you, Nozick says hands off, let the trading run its course, Two philosophers, one question: what's justice's true source? [Verse 2] Now Rawls adds a twist he calls the difference clause, Inequality's allowed but only for a cause, If the richest climbing up can lift the poorest high, Like a rising tide that reaches every low shelf nearby, But if the gap just widens while the bottom stays the same, That's not justice, Rawls would say, that's just a rigged game, Maximin's the engine, boost the worst-off seat, Justice measured not by top, but by the weakest street. [Chorus] Veil down, hearts true, nobody knows their view, Rawls says fair is what you'd pick not knowing it was you, Nozick says hands off, let the trading run its course, Two philosophers, one question: what's justice's true source? [Verse 3] Nozick enters, shakes his head, says "slow your roll," Patterns can't be forced on folks, that's not the proper goal, Picture Wilt Chamberlain, the towering basketball star, Fans toss coins to watch him play, dime after dime in the jar, Soon he's richer than the rest, the equal split is gone, But every trade was willing, so what exactly went wrong? Nozick says the state should just referee the game, Protect your property and rights, and leave the rest the same. [Verse 4] Sandel stands and clears his throat, MacIntyre nods along, "You've built your folks from nowhere, and that premise is wrong," We're not blank slates choosing cold behind a foggy screen, We're raised in towns and churches, shaped by all we've seen, Community gives meaning that no contract can supply, Shared values bind us tighter than an individual "I", Both of you forgot the village raising up the child, Justice needs a history, not an abstract, floating style. [Bridge] So when they argue taxes, and the safety net's up for debate, It's Rawls versus Nozick, echoing through the state, Welfare check or market check, redistribute or let be, Two books from the seventies still shape our policy. [Chorus] Veil down, hearts true, nobody knows their view, Rawls says fair is what you'd pick not knowing it was you, Nozick says hands off, let the trading run its course, Two philosophers, one question: what's justice's true source?
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