Our Fuzzy Social Contract
A social contract is an agreement between citizens and their ruler. It defines the rights and duties of both the ruler and their citizens. Social contract theory is a notion that denotes an implicit agreement within a state regarding the rights and responsibilities of the state and its citizens. All members within a society are assumed to agree to the terms of the social contract by their choice to stay within the society without violating the contract. A violation would mean an attempt to return to the state of nature. Of many social contract theorists, the United States closely follows John Locke, which affects the United States citizens. The U.S. Constitution is a social contract and the founders used John Locke's social contract theory to base their Constitution on. Most people support the U.S. Constitution and social contract theorist, John Locke; they feel there are positive effects of borrowing John Locke's ideas in the U.S. Constitution. Robert Alexander discusses the negative effects of the U.S. Constitution on the United States citizens. Robert Alexander's article " fuzzy social contract," is featured in Bart Kosko's book Fuzzy Thinking. By following Locke's theories and ideas, there has been an overall negative effect on the United States citizens.
The U.S. Constitution picked up on John Locke's idea of private property. "Locke proposed a labour theory of property that built on the idea of natural law. By mixing his labor with an object, a person then owns that object. However, labor also set the bounds of private property because, under the labor idea, a person could only own that which could be enjoyed and used. By these bounds, the economy should run efficiently because property will not be wasted, spoiled, or hoarded." Private property means people own their land over the state, which is essential to capitalism. Capitalism is an economic and political system in which private owners control a country's trade and industry for profit, rather than by
The U.S. Constitution picked up on John Locke's idea of private property. "Locke proposed a labour theory of property that built on the idea of natural law. By mixing his labor with an object, a person then owns that object. However, labor also set the bounds of private property because, under the labor idea, a person could only own that which could be enjoyed and used. By these bounds, the economy should run efficiently because property will not be wasted, spoiled, or hoarded." Private property means people own their land over the state, which is essential to capitalism. Capitalism is an economic and political system in which private owners control a country's trade and industry for profit, rather than by