The Present 'Social Contract'

The Present ‘Social Contract’

            One idea that has been bandied about by political philosophers is the idea of the ‘social contract’, a contract that our ancestors allegedly entered into with the ancestors of modern governments, supposedly binding on future generations, giving their consent to be governed as we are today. Let us, for the moment, take this far-fetched notion seriously, and draft a ‘social contract’ that would be able to justify what modern governments currently do. I will leave it to the reader to judge whether such a contract would be valid according to the normal standards of contract law and even if it were, whether the reader would ever sign such a thing.

The Social Contract

I, Subject A, the undersigned, do hereby agree to the following:

1. Government A may take as much money or property from me as they see fit, as payment for the services that they provide.

2. Government A may compel me to anything they want me to do, or prohibit me from doing anything they do not want me to do.

3. This contract is irrevocable and I agree never to seek to make any other such contract with any other government whatsoever.

4. This contract is binding on all of my future descendants living in the specified geographical area claimed by Government A.

5. If I or my descendants should disobey or resist Government A as it uses the powers given to it in clauses 1 and 2, Government A may punish me or my descendants with fines, imprisonment, or, as a last resort, death.

I, Government A, the undersigned, do hereby agree to the following:

1. I will endeavour to protect Subject A and the property that I have not taken away from him from foreign aggression and aggression by domestic lawbreakers. I offer no guarantees pertaining to my success in these endeavours, but hey, I will do my best, as long as I'm not too busy gathering tribute or cracking down on victimless ‘crimes’.

2. I may, from time to time, use the money I levy from you to provide you with additional ‘services’. Some of these services I may force you to use, I might not allow anyone else to provide these services, and I make no promises about the quality of the services provided.

3. I agree to hold regular elections every 4 years, where Subject A and all of my other subjects can vote, the majority deciding the issue, on who is to fill certain posts in my governing structure. Once voted into office, these personnel will be imbued with the powers given to Government A in clauses 1 and 2 in Subject A’s contractual agreement above, and cannot be recalled until the next election.

(Note: By the way, if you, Subject A, should choose not to sign this contract, I, Government A, will imprison you until you do or I will kill you.)

            I don’t know about you, but I, in my position as a subject, certainly would never voluntarily sign this contract, and I doubt my ancestors would have either. If I was forced to sign it through the threat of imprisonment or death, I would not consider the contract legally or morally binding even for myself, much less for future generations who had no say in the matter whatsoever.

            

           In order to persuade me to sign any ‘social contract’ of this nature, the powers given to Government A in clause 1 and 2 of Subject A’s contractual agreement would have to be severely limited, limits not subject to revision without a full renegotiation of the contract. I would want clause 1 limited to taking, say, only 10%, at most, of each subject’s annual income, and clause 2 limited to only prohibiting things that physically damage other subjects’ persons or private property without their consent.