On The Social Contract
We don’t owe the government anything. They owe us everything.
Thanks for reading <3
A Song For The Road:
“These times are poignant, the winds have shifted. It’s all we can do to stay uplifted. Piplines thru backyards, wolves howling out front. Yeah, I got my crew, but TRUTH is what I want.” - Resilient, Rising Appalachia
I am thankful for exactly ONE thing in our new MAGA culture. People aren’t hiding anymore. We now know exactly who you are by the politicians you are choosing to support, by the podcasts you are choosing to listen to, by the posts you make on Facebook. A whole lot of scared, disempowered members of the patriarchy. A group of people clinging to feigned power. Defectors of the human population.
The Social Contract was introduced in 375 BC. Before Jesus lived! That’s a LONG TIME AGO. I’d assume you’ve heard of Plato and Socrates, they loved to disagree which is very lucky for us. In Crito, (written by Plato about Socrates), Socrates states that by choosing to live in Athens, he is implicitly agreeing to the laws of that city even if they don’t favor him, signifiying an unspoken Social Contract between citizen and governing body. Plato also wrote about this in The Republic, stating that justice arises from mutual agreements to avoid harm. Socrates disagrees, saying that justice comes from our soul depths and societal structure, not simply contracts.
Regardless of their disagreements, the claim here is that government and citizenship are intrinsically linked, that we must Consent to Be Governed in order for government to be applicable at all. Socrates claims that consent to be governed is implied by citizenship, and that we have a moral duty to each other, hence why we bother to form government at all. The point is elevating the soul and a moral obligation to elevate the human condition.
Important to Note: Socrates died in prison for “corrupting the youth of Athens” with his philosophy. By his logic, he chose to live in Athens and therefore consented to the laws. Regardless of the law being unjust, he dies over it rather than try to escape, in order to preserve his own ideals.
Fast forward a couple years…. France, 1762, Jean-Jauques Rousseau writesThe Social Contract, in response to the mass inequity of France (and Europe in general):
“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains…”
Rousseau claims that the only purpose of government is to serve the people. He believes that humanity is naturally good, but society corrupts us. We consent to be governed by entering an explicit contract (Like a Constitution!!!!!) and agree to trade natural liberty of civil liberty, meaning we gain moral freedom and equality under the law.
Both the Greeks and Rousseau agree that a governing body owes the people access to improving their situation, spiritually, educationally, providing physical safety, etc. They both talk about direct democracy and the moral will of the people, implying the government owes the people these things in exchange for our natural freedom.
As I see it in 2025, this means that the government owes us, at very least, laws that PROTECT OUR RIGHTS rather than take them away, free access to basic necessities since we live in a land of plenty, and actual protection, not a militia that shoots us down when we call for help.
Graffiti somewhere in LA…
“In my dream, the angel shrugged and said, ‘If we fail this time it will be a failure of imagination.’ and then she place the world gently in the palm of my hand.”
So, now that we all know about the Social Contract… There is just no argument that I can see in favor of Donald Trump. No matter how you slice it, the pizza still got pissed on. If our government is not fulfilling their contract to us, why should we continue to consent to their will?
I certainly don’t fucking consent to this shit. Socrates can fuck off with that nonsense. Our government is not acting in the interest of goodwill toward us the citizens, so why are we being governable? Besides, a revolution could be fun, right?
Anyway, I’m just a girl…
