Too much has been made of "free will". In it's extreme it is a deistic philosophy that is at odds with the sovereignty of God. Free will is governed by the state of the soul. If that soul is non-regenerate the will of that soul is primarily evil. Sure the un-regenerate may do good things from time to time, but their nature is still evil. When a soul is being regenerated, even before conversion, the will is attuned to God and seeks to genuinely please him.
As for being unfair, well I for one am not going to arrogantly try to rationalize God's fairness, seeing that He is infinitely perfect and I am a finite created being.