Not2BSubjugated
Callous Individualist
lol, yes, this could have been a much shorter thread if the OP understood that.
IT's really not the OP that's lacking in understanding, here.
What you don't seem to understand is that agreement isn't passive. You can't truly unknowingly agree to something, either. Agreement -must- be conscious and willing. Anything else is coercion, which is what the "social contract" in any given modern society actually is.
You don't really agree to the laws and taxes. You obey and pay them to avoid punishment. Not same-same.
If you're handed a contract by a guy with a gun to your head who says sign it or else, even if you sign it you didn't really agree to anything. You were forced into some shit. That's not a real contract, that's succumbing to a threat. The government's threat is less obvious, but it's still just as real as any gangster's pistol.
However, for those of you still unconvinced, come on down to SE Portland, I'll have a couple buddies of mine rob you at gun point, and when you give them your money, I'll remind you that you actually agreed and gave them your money willingly, and that it wasn't a robbery so much as a business transaction.
And your better idea is?
My better idea is to stop calling it a social contract as though I got to choose to be born into society or not, or as though I got to choose whether or not to be part of it, or as though there's somewhere I could even go to opt out of the game completely. It's not a choice, stop lying to yourselves.
That's my better idea. Ruthless self-honesty.
My other better idea is to stop using the term as though it's a meaningful argument in a debate regarding American politics. I've seen too many people say that the social contract justifies that the government force me to do this or that as a taxpayer. . . the social contract doesn't justify shit because it's not a hard document on which our laws our based. . . it's a conceptual thing that seems to bind me to whatever rule the guy talking wants it to support. I don't think we need any loosely defined almost-documents on which you can base your urge to tell me how I can be most efficiently subjugated to benefit "the greater good".
Last edited: