The Purpose of a Social Contract

Ok, so we know that a life of public service is supposed to be a life of servitude. Politicians call themselves Public Servants, but why? Well, it all comes from the origin of a social contract. A social contract puts them at our will. This is our Constitution's goal.

The Constitution is the list of ways that they can serve us. Why do we need a list? Why not just let them serve us as they like? This is why most social contracts prior to our Constitution were unwritten. These other contracts have given their ruler's almost supreme power. We ended up with vicious dictators and kings with unstoppable power. These people even tried election systems in minimally drawn out contracts and they found themselves electing idiots. They created democracies that resulted in the French Revolution and many bloody messes in Europe.

Our founders decided to change that. They decided to draw out a social contract that, as we learned, was meant to keep the government in line. They put limit after limit on government power. They drew line after line telling them how they must run their processes and how it would take 3/4ths of the people to accept any changes to that process. Then, when they finished, they added to it. They added, after all these limitations and specifics, 10 more notations, known as Amendments. Each one specifically naming Rights of the people except for the last 2. The last 2 had one sole purpose, to note that there were more Rights, and that the government was not to go outside the bounds of that social contract because it may trample these other Rights. The founders very adamantly said that there was no reason for the government to do anything that they had not yet specified. As such, they had simple, specifically outlined purposes. And these purposes are listed in their respective sections of the Constitution.

This is the purpose of a social contract. A social contract controls the relationship between the people and their government. The people give up some of their freedoms to the government in exchange for it's protection. Our founders wanted to keep the government's protection very minimal in exchange for very few of our freedoms. So now we know what a social contract does. Next time we'll answer more questions.

Sincerely,
Ted

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. – John Adams (1814)

The Constitution is not hearsay. It is not a bunch of legal myths passed along by word of mouth. It is not a depository for judicial delusions and ideological pipe dreams. It is not a figment of some justice's Marxian imagination. It is a written document – a legally binding contract whose words, spirit and intent are clear. – Linda Bowles, nationally syndicated columnist