Enslavement by "Social Contract"

The "social contract" is often used as a sledgehammer to bludgeon anyone who argues against advances in authoritarianism (also known as socialism or the welfare state).

What is a social contract? www.dictionary.com defines it as: "the voluntary agreement among individuals by which, according to any of various theories, as of Hobbes, Locke, or Rousseau, organized society is brought into being and invested with the right to secure mutual protection and welfare or to regulate the relations among its members."

The key parts of this definition are "voluntary agreement" and "individuals." As with any contract, a social contract is entered willfully by all parties. If you are forced to abide by some set of terms to which you had not willingly consented, then that is no longer a contract. To the extent that those terms require you to do something, anything for someone else, then it is a form of slavery (whether sanctioned by law or not). A properly constituted government would never force its citizens into servitude for others. It would only prevent them from taking actions that would cause harm to others.

The United States has unfortunately evolved to the point where all residents and citizens are said to be under many social contracts. For example, Social Security is a social contract to ensure everyone has a minimum retirement income. How can it be that anyone born after 14 August 1935 (when the Social Security Act became active), voluntarily agreed to participate in this contract? I know that when I started working and for every job I have had since, no one has ever asked for my consent to participate in Social Security. The same is true for unemployment insurance, medicare, medicaid and all other forms of welfare.

The other key part to the definition of a social contract is "individuals." What this means is that even though I'm a member of an organization, that organization cannot obligate me to participate in a contract without my consent. For example, I belong to the IEEE which often argues for stricter limits on immigrant visas for high technology workers. The IEEE cannot obligate me to participate in citizen patrols along the border with Mexico or to donate to Pat Buchanan's or Tom Tancredo's next political initiative. Similarly, just because a majority of the voters awarded Obama the presidency and Democrats control of Congress does not give them the right to obligate me, or even people that voted for them, to any social contract without their individual consent. The founders of the United States understand quite well the dangers of Democracy. That is why the U.S. was founded as a Constitutional Republic that protected the rights of all individuals.

So, the next time someone tells you that we are all bound together by this social contract or that social contract, simply tell them that you never signed your name providing your consent to be a party to that contract (and most likely, they never did either). Remind them the difference between a voluntary contract and involuntary servitude.