John Buttrick writes from his Vermont Folk Rocker in his Concord home, Minds Crossing. He can be reached at johndbuttrick@gmail.com

Four little words have become a standard protest used by Donald Trump and, by extension, the MAGA community: “It is not fair.”

Mr. Trump protests daily that it is not fair that he has been indicted and must stand trial for a number of crimes. Those who seek to investigate accusations of crimes and misdemeanors are not treating him fairly. The judges are not fair. It was not fair that he lost the presidential election. It was not fair that the vice president refused Trump’s request to prevent Congressional certification of the Electoral College’s vote for President Biden.

The Jan. 6 storming of the nation’s capital was perceived as a fair response to the unfair election results. War on Congress had in effect been declared. It seems Trump and his supporters have added to the demand for self-righteous fairness, the concept in the 1578 novel by John Lyly who wrote, “All is fair in love and war.”

Mr. Trump seems to be stuck with a childhood confusion about the meaning of fair.

The Encarta World English Dictionary defines “fair” as “not exhibiting any bias, and therefore reasonable or impartial.” When I was a child I routinely distorted the meaning of “fair” to mean partial to me, to what I wanted or needed. However, the consistent response from my parents was the four little words, “Life is not fair.”

They were telling me that in adulthood, complaining, “It is not fair,” shows a self-centeredness and a lack of maturity; an insistence in “having it my way or no way.” Therefore, for example, when some countries do not contribute their fair share to NATO, as the former president demanded, Mr. Trump reasons, from his childhood psyche, it is fair to give Russia’s Putin permission to unleashed his aggression on Ukraine.

Dwelling on fairness is a distraction from justice. Fairness focuses on the individual. Justice is communal, justice for all. Justice is one of the most important moral values in the spheres of law and politics.

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Justice is the notion that everyone deserves equal economic, political, and social opportunities irrespective of race, gender, or religion. This is where Mr. Trump and MAGA go astray. They invoke fairness to support their perception of privilege and supremacy over others. Justice does not seem to be in their lexicon.

Also, in waging war, justice as an important moral value is abandoned. The wars in Ukraine or in Gaza are examples. The idea of fairness is the principle in waging war — “all is fair in… war.” Hamas may consider it “fair” to attack Israeli people whose military unfairly restricts the movement of the Gazan people. Israel may consider it only fair that they label Hamas a terrorist organization to be destroyed. However, fairness is judged by rules. Rules of war are abandoned when a country or entity fears for their existence. All actions and weapons become fair to be used for survival.

Compromised fairness requires the healing power of justice. Contrary to being dependent upon the idea of fairness, critics of inhumane actions in the wars and critics of the antics of Trump and his followers are using justice as the scale to measure right actions. Justice seeks to make whole those who have suffered discrimination, inequity, or collective punishment.

Fairness may rely on that adage, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” But justice is concerned with those who are caught in destructive systems and wars. Justice seeks relief for the homeless, the hungry, the sick and injured, the powerless, and the isolated. Retribution in the name of fairness can never accomplish these ends. Fairness and justice repel each other.

I chose justice to advance humanitarian goals and to make America greater.