The Social Contract

A social contract is formed between the people and their nation in order to maintain social order. Such a contract implies that the people give up some of their rights to their government in order to preserve order.

According to Hobbes, without this contract, we would live in a "state of nature," meaning that we would have unlimited natural freedoms. Anyone in a state of nature can do anything he likes, but this also means that anyone can do what they like to him in return. With the goal of self-preservation, people establish a civil society in which each member gains civil rights in return for subjecting themselves to civil law.

When a citizen violates the contract – when he breaks the law – then his civil rights are taken away from him. Each member of society accepts the responsibility for obeying the rules, including the threat of punishment for violating them. According to Hardin, "[Society] is justified with laws punishing behavior that breaks the Social Contract because we are concerned about others harming us and don't plan on harming others. In this way, society works by 'mutual coercion, mutually agreed upon'."

The subject of the social contract is a whole branch of philosophy far beyond the scope of this blog, but my point is that when citizens violate the social contract they are punished – in return, when society itself violates the social contract then it too should be punished.

Say what?

The American Revolution was greatly influenced by John Locke's theory in which the social contract implied that among the citizen's natural rights was the right of the people to overthrow their leaders, should those leaders betray the rights of the citizens. Thomas Paine wrote in the Rights of Man that revolution is permissible when a government does not safeguard its people, their natural rights, and their national interests.

Now, some may argue that Federal laws such as DOMA and state amendments and propositions defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman are approved and endorsed by the majority of the citizens, therefore making them valid. However, those laws are intended to deny equal rights to a special segment of the citizens living within the society. This is a violation of the social contract. In order for the contract – and society – to be valid, then everyone must be granted the same rights as everyone else.

Many people – even LGBT people – think the issue of marriage is not that important; that there are bigger problems facing us such as AIDS and the economy and the climate crisis. Yes, these are important issues and we need to work on them as well, but when a society separates a segment of citizen from others and creates new laws designed to deny them the same right as everyone else then this sets a dangerous precedent. When you take away one right, it sets the standard to deny other rights. In addition to marriage and all the benefits which come with that right, this set of second class citizens can now be subjected to disenfranchisement, limitations on civil or military service and restrictions on religion, education, freedom of movement and association and property ownership.

More importantly, these laws imply to all of society that it's okay to treat these "others" as less than human. This opens the way for increased harassment, discrimination and violence. While there may be laws in place to prevent hate crimes, there will always be hate-inspired violence against others until our society acknowledges that everyone who lives in it deserves the same basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled.

Therefore, it is our responsibility to fight against these laws. It doesn't matter if you personally want to get married or not. When you are denied one right, then eventually you will be denied other rights. History has shown us that when people start to lose their rights, unless they take action to prevent it, they will go on losing more and more rights until they have nothing left – most often, not even their lives.

End apartheid in America now. Take action before we lose anything more. Until our social contract is fixed, none of us living in the United States of America can truly be free.

--->Susan

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