The Dignitarian Foundation is working to foster the notion that all people, regardless of societal rank, are treated with respect and seen to have inherent worth simply because they are a human being. Bob Fuller, a leader of this movement has written several books describing what he refers to as rankism, that is the pecking order we establish in society to give value to one person over another. In such a system, janitors and garbage collectors are less prized than doctors and CEOs.
What this way of thinking misses is that without janitors, cashiers, and others working at the lowly regarded jobs in our society, the "higher ups" could not function. Imagine if your city's garbagemen just stopped picking up garbage and no one wanted to do those jobs because they are given such low dignity.
The recognition of our interconnectedness in society forms the basis for ensuring all people are treated with respect and dignity no matter what role they fill in society. I think this idea forms the basis of liberal values about issues like providing healthcare for all and paying a living wage to workers. We just need to get as passionate about our valuation of human beings as activists on the right are in their passion for the fetus.
Capitalism when practiced with a conscience as companies like CostCo do, i.e. providing good wages and benefits thus sharing the benefits with all is a positive economic force to lift people up. What is holding it back is the self-interested greed running rampant in America that treats human beings as commodities. Communism fails at this. What is needed is a third way or capitalism with a conscience.
In the words of the Dalai Lama:
"Brute force, no matter how strongly applied, can never subdue the basic desire for freedom and dignity. It is not enough, as communist systems have assumed, merely to provide people with food, shelter and clothing. Human nature needs to breathe the precious air of liberty."
http://www.dignitarians.org/...