Rousseau Social Contract Analysis
Political Efficacy
The Social Contract
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Without a belief that political efficacy is strong, and each citizen making a personal input into society, it is the belief of both Rousseau and myself that “the State is not far from its fall.” Faith and activity in the political system has been replaced with financial activity. Rousseau states that, “In a country that is truly free, the citizens do everything with their own arms and nothing by means of money; so far from paying to be exempted from their duties, they would even pay for the privilege of fulfilling them themselves.” If people so desire to make their input to society purely financial, perhaps they should be punished financially for not being politically active. …show more content…
We are stuck in a lifestyle in which we sit around and complain about how things are going, possibly vote for whatever representatives seem to have the best ideas to change things, and then go on living our own lives with no concerns over what political action we could be taking. In Rousseau’s Social Contract he states, “As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State What does it matter to me? The State may be given up for lost.” This attitude seems to be popular among Americans. Rousseau hopes for an opposite attitude, and would love to see as much direct democracy as possible. He even makes a point to say that laws are not valid if they were not voted on directly. While this is a hopeful view to take, is it possible to mobilize Americans today to care more? Unfortunately I don’t think so. While one can argue that we can all take our part and vote, write our representatives, read more about legislation, I honestly think that far too many Americans are fine with going through life by just paying their taxes and never thinking about what more they could do. However, if there is one thing that can motivate the American people, it is
The Social Contract
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Without a belief that political efficacy is strong, and each citizen making a personal input into society, it is the belief of both Rousseau and myself that “the State is not far from its fall.” Faith and activity in the political system has been replaced with financial activity. Rousseau states that, “In a country that is truly free, the citizens do everything with their own arms and nothing by means of money; so far from paying to be exempted from their duties, they would even pay for the privilege of fulfilling them themselves.” If people so desire to make their input to society purely financial, perhaps they should be punished financially for not being politically active. …show more content…
We are stuck in a lifestyle in which we sit around and complain about how things are going, possibly vote for whatever representatives seem to have the best ideas to change things, and then go on living our own lives with no concerns over what political action we could be taking. In Rousseau’s Social Contract he states, “As soon as any man says of the affairs of the State What does it matter to me? The State may be given up for lost.” This attitude seems to be popular among Americans. Rousseau hopes for an opposite attitude, and would love to see as much direct democracy as possible. He even makes a point to say that laws are not valid if they were not voted on directly. While this is a hopeful view to take, is it possible to mobilize Americans today to care more? Unfortunately I don’t think so. While one can argue that we can all take our part and vote, write our representatives, read more about legislation, I honestly think that far too many Americans are fine with going through life by just paying their taxes and never thinking about what more they could do. However, if there is one thing that can motivate the American people, it is