Would you sign a Social Contract?

[Aphex_Twin]

Now, be honest, would you sign this?
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From: (A T Furman)

Newsgroups: ba.politics

Subject: Re: Social contract?

Date: 14 May 92 08:53:22 GMT



We’ve all heard of the “Social Contract” — the unwritten agreement between individuals and “society” (i.e. the government.) The following is an attempt to write down, once and for all, just what the contract is that we’ve all supposedly agreed to.



SOCIAL CONTRACT

Between an individual and the United States Government



WHEREAS I wish to reside on the North American continent, and WHEREAS the United States Government controls the area of the continent on which I wish to reside, and WHEREAS tacit or implied contracts are vague and therefore unenforceable,



I agree to the following terms:



SECTION 1: I will surrender a percentage of my property to the Government. The actual percentage will be determined by the Government and will be subject to change at any time. The amount to be surrendered may be based on my income, the value of my property, the value of my purchases or any other criteria the Government chooses. To aid the Government in determining the percentage, I will apply for a Government identification number that I will use in all my major financial transactions.



SECTION 2: Should the Government demand it, I will surrender my liberty for a period of time determined by the government and typically no shorter than two years. During that time, I will serve the Government in any way it chooses, including military service in which I may be called upon to sacrifice my life.



SECTION 3: I will limit my behavior as demanded by the government. I will consume only those drugs permitted by the Government. I will limit my sexual activities to those permitted by the Government. I will forsake religious beliefs that conflict with the Government’s determination of propriety. More limits may be imposed at any time.



SECTION 4: In consideration for the above, the Government will permit me to find employment, subject to limits that will be determined by the Government. These limits may restrict my choice of career or the wages I may accept.



SECTION 5: The Government will permit me to reside in the area of North America which it controls. Also, the Government will permit me to speak freely, subject to limits determined by the Government’s Congress and Supreme Court.



SECTION 6: The Government will attempt to protect my life and my claim to the property it has allowed me to keep. I agree not to hold the Government liable if it fails to protect me or my property.



SECTION 7: The Government will offer various services to me. The nature and extent of these services will be determined by the Government and are subject to change at any time.



SECTION 8: The Government will determine whether I may vote for certain Government officials. The influence of my vote will vary inversely with the number of voters, and I understand that it typically will be minuscule. I agree not to hold any elected Government officials liable for acting against my best interests or for breaking promises, even if those promises motivated me to vote for them.



SECTION 9: I agree that the Government may hold me fully liable if I fail to abide by the above terms. In that event, the Government may confiscate any property that I have not previously surrendered to it, and may imprison me for a period of time to be determined by the Government. I also agree that the Government may alter the terms of this contract at any time.



_____________________________

Signature



_____________________________

Date





Copyright 1989 by Robert E. Alexander.

May be distributed freely.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Well, by living here we all implicitly agree to this.

 

[Shadylookin]

No. the government should be subject to the will of the people not the other way around.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

*waves American passport while standing in Europe*

Probably not. Let's have a benevolent despotism instead, with me ruling.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Um, the point of a social contract is that the government is held to it.

 

[Speedo]

Rendered null and void by the US Constitution.

 

[Elrohir]

SECTION 3: I will limit my behavior as demanded by the government. I will consume only those drugs permitted by the Government. I will limit my sexual activities to those permitted by the Government. I will forsake religious beliefs that conflict with the Government’s determination of propriety. More limits may be imposed at any time.

No, mostly because of that claus. Nothing else jumped out at me as anything I wouldn't mind signing.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Well, by living here we all implicitly agree to this.

Can you tell me how this works?

 

[Sidhe]

Is it me or is this simply giving your rights that you already have in order to impose restrictions that mostly do not exist? Sounds like the first steps to communism. Any context on this? Who and in what context do they propose such ideas?

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Well, the social contract basically outlines the costs versus benefits that we receive by living in the US, it makes no new demands or promises towards us.

 

[Sidhe]

Well, the social contract basically outlines the costs versus benefits that we receive by living in the US, it makes no new demands or promises towards us.

Problem is it forgoes your rights to legally protest in whatever circumstances to governement property confiscation etc, because you have signed over your rights, this is not anything I understand of a democracy.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Well, the social contract basically outlines the costs versus benefits that we receive by living in the US, it makes no new demands or promises towards us.

There is this small matter of people never having agreed to it, and the flimsy adherence to the common understanding of the "contract."

 

[Gladi]

Problem is it forgoes your rights to legally protest in whatever circumstances to governement property confiscation etc, because you have signed over your rights, this is not anything I understand of a democracy.

Bright day
As an englishman you should know this, one of your countrymen thought it up.

BUT, the contract written up there is very badly worded. There is no definition of government, further it mostly covers rights of goverment on man and not man's rights on government which is base thing why we enter contract.

Further, it has several specific laws mentioned, several of them not even on the books...

Intersocial Contract...

 

[Masquerouge]

That "contract" looks like a troll to me, by someone trying to point out not-so-subtly that the US government is bad, bad, bad.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Oh, it's clearly a troll (the original contract author, not the poster). Of course, unlike with an actual signed contract, the author (or whoever else!) is free to leave whenever.

 

[North King]

MY property? MY income? Seems like that "contract" is mighty presumptuous.

 

[woody60707]

I'm sure glad I don't live where ever that is. here in the US we have a better system where we vote for people that tell the goverment what taxes their will be, these people we vote for (or not vote again for if they do a bad job) they also tell the goverment what drugs are permitted.

We also have this thing, a bill of rights if you wanted to call it something. It's there so the last line in that OP can never happen, "I also agree that the Government may alter the terms of this contract at any time."

And well the list goes on.

Oh and to the OP, No i would not sign that, it's to bad that people in NK and other parts of the world don't get that choice.

 

[Irish Caesar]

I'm sure glad I don't live where ever that is. here in the US we have a better system where we vote for people that tell the goverment what taxes their will be, these people we vote for (or not vote again for if they do a bad job) they also tell the goverment what drugs are permitted.

And well the list goes on.

It's someone's interpretation of the US.

 

[Brighteye]

This is a gross misinterpretation of the idea of the social contract neatly packaged into a silly joke to make people dismiss the real idea of the social contract before they even learn what it actually is.

For a start, the social contract is an agreement between each citizen and every other citizen, not between a government and a citizen. The government has no authority to make a contract, because it does not exist until society has formed by means of the social contract.

 

[Sidhe]

This is a gross misinterpretation of the idea of the social contract neatly packaged into a silly joke to make people dismiss the real idea of the social contract before they even learn what it actually is.

For a start, the social contract is an agreement between each citizen and every other citizen, not between a government and a citizen. The government has no authority to make a contract, because it does not exist until society has formed by means of the social contract.

Interesting I was thinking along those lines myself, there is no such thing as an agreement between a government and the voter, because government by democracy means that the conditions are changed by the people and for the people or are dynamic by said governemental system i.e. the government changes it's policies over time, given any one moment in history.

Therefore there is never any need or reason to sign anything under the terms of democracy, a social contract should be something agreed by concencus by the voter not a contract written down anyway. But even then it has flaws, I prefer a dynamic system and therefore think it is an unecessary process, the laws themselves should change we should never have to agree to something that is written down absolutely as it confines our liberty to apeal against it.