"Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains." After delving into Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality (1755), which I found to be truly radical and thought-provoking, my expectations for The Social Contract were sky-high. I recalled his criticism of Locke's Social Contract concept, where people traded freedoms for security. So, I wondered how he would define the social contract, the reasons for our transition from a state of nature to a state of society, and the conditions for political legitimacy. In The Social Contract, Rousseau presents a normative social contract, distinct from the naturalized one in his Second Discourse. Here, his main argument is that the ideal situation is where citizens surrender their natural rights to the community (representing the 'general will'), which would safeguard their rights, freedom, and equality while preserving their freedom in determining the political arrangement they live under. The key difference between his SC and Locke's SC is that Rousseau's government should uphold freedom and liberty, while Locke's is more focused on delivering justice. I learned a great deal about 18th-century political theory and how certain ideas have (or haven't) endured. Rousseau's thoughts on various issues, from the death penalty to the role of religion in political history, offered fresh perspectives and, in some cases, strengthened my own views. However, I had a minor gripe with the text's awkward structure. Why does it end with a discussion on religion and a conclusion that doesn't reiterate his main points but instead mentions issues he wants to discuss in the future? Anyway, read on for my exploration of some of his points! 1. Rousseau's Definition of the Social Contract As I previously mentioned, in The Social Contract, Rousseau proposes an ideal form of political organization that would restore the freedom of life in the state of nature. Examining humanity's decline from that peaceful and equal state, he writes that our main challenge is finding "a form of association which will defend the person and goods of each member with the collective force of all, and under which each individual, while uniting himself with the others, obeys no one but himself, and remains free as before." His response is to have "Each one of us put into the community his person and all his powers under the supreme direction of the general will; and as a body, incorporate every member as an indivisible part of the whole." One of the key differences between the English Enlightenment, of which Locke was a part, and the French Enlightenment is that French thinkers were more confrontational. While Locke's social contract is based on the exchange of freedoms for the preservation of natural rights and the assurance of justice regarding private property, Rousseau's emphasis lies largely on the former, that is, the restoration of the people's/sovereign's natural freedoms through civil liberties. Indeed, it must be emphasized that Rousseau identified the invention of private property as the cause of mankind's fall from the State of Nature. 2. Categories of Will/Interests Rousseau identifies three different categories of will/interests: the general will (of the sovereign/citizenry), the corporate will (of any organization, like the government), and the particular will (individual interests). Regarding the general will, which pertains to the public good, I have reservations about what it constitutes. For example, in modern-day China, the general will could arguably be that of the 92% Han population, whose interests might conflict with those of the Uighurs and Tibetans. So, the CCP government is legitimate for the majority Han Chinese. But surely, the political arrangement is not legitimate for the aforementioned unrepresented minorities. Perhaps the general will is the same for all citizens worldwide, in all societies, regardless of our differences - to have the right to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. If the CCP government could guarantee those rights to every single citizen on its soil, then it would probably be entirely legitimate. 3. The Incorruptibility of the People Rousseau also argues for the incorruptibility of the people - "the people is never corrupted, but it is often misled; and only then does it seem to will what is bad." I think this is true... as much as we like to call Trump voters deplorables, surely they are still voting for what they think is good for themselves and their people? I believe they have legitimate grievances and concerns, and most of them have been expressing them through legitimate democratic means. However, moving on. For the "general will to be clearly expressed," Rousseau writes, "there should be no sectional associations in the state and that every citizen should make up his own mind for himself - if there are sectional associations, multiply their number and prevent inequality among them." Ideally, yes, everyone should make up their own mind, but I think this is one of the pitfalls of the Enlightenment project. We now have a culture of false enlightenment worsened by a post-truth intellectual climate. Most people are just not intelligent enough to see the common good and invariably participate blindly in politics, getting manipulated by demagogues to their own detriment. Maybe better education can remedy this, but still, people tend to believe what they want to believe, especially with how social media is used nowadays. While the internet was thought to have the potential to further democratic dialogue and strengthen a culture of democracy in society, it has merely allowed citizens to communicate with those who share the same views, and then have those views reinforced, no matter how out of sync they are with the general will. Honestly, how many even use the internet to read diverse writings and then contribute to online discourse? 4. Law Formation When it comes to the law, Rousseau identifies two key players in its formation: 1) the sovereign, and 2) a noncitizen, impartial lawgiver whose laws express the general will of the sovereign but who lacks the authority to execute them. Here are some tangential thoughts I had: In countries like the United States, the judiciary has significant power in interpreting laws, whereas in the United Kingdom and Singapore, laws are redefined by the legislature. While the former can deliver 'justice' regardless of public opinion, the fundamentally undemocratic nature of the Supreme Court and the heightened polarisation of views seem to undermine both the legitimacy and viability of such an arrangement. Why should the words of a group of dead white men be interpreted by a handful of appointed justices and not a democratically elected assembly? Yes, it is more convenient to do so via the courts, but one should also remember that the justices are not objective students of the Constitution but individuals with their own sets of beliefs and values. I believe in LGBTQ+ rights. But if 50% of the population does not, and the Supreme Court does not vote unanimously, how legitimate and convincing is the reinterpretation of the law anyway? 5. Punishment of Lawbreakers Rousseau writes that lawbreakers both compromise our ability to live freely and, more importantly, go against the state's social pact ("it is in order to avoid becoming the victim of a murderer that one consents to die). As such, they are enemies of the state and should be treated as such; exile and the death penalty are thus legitimate. I don't dispute this. In a state where the laws are entirely in line with the general will, whoever breaks the law should be punished and, if I may add, rehabilitated. Interestingly, Rousseau also argues that "no man should be put to death, even as an example, if he can be left to live without danger to society." I'm not sure where I stand on the death penalty, but I do think it is a legitimate form of punishment when administered to one's citizens when others' right to life is compromised. In the same chapter, Rousseau also observes that "in a well-governed state few are punished, not because there are many pardons but because there are few criminals." In that case, the United States of America must be a terribly governed state (which I think it is), for it not only has shockingly high incarceration rates and an unjust incarceration system but the President also has the arbitrary power to pardon whomever he wishes - how is that legitimate at all? Gosh. On a side note, Rousseau's discussion of punishment also made me wonder if a state's ability to tolerate transgressions of the law, such as the decriminalization of sex work, is a sign of the strength of the social compact. Even though most people agree that prostitution should generally be avoided (and is thus illegal), there are times when people have no choice but to turn to it as a means of survival. The refusal to impose criminal penalties can then be a sign of the strength of the social compact - that such transgressions can go unpunished without posing a threat to our political arrangement. Of course, it could also indicate the changing values of a society, in which case decriminalization is the first step in legitimately expanding the limits of the law. 6. Religion Rousseau's discussion on religion. He believes in a "civil religion," which does not consist of "strictly religious dogmas but expressions of social conscience" (like contemporary civic nationalism, for example?) and that there can exist both positive dogmas ("omnipotent, intelligent, benevolent divinity that foresees and provides; the life to come; the happiness of the just; the punishment of sinners; the sanctity of the social contract") and the negative dogma of intolerance. I wholeheartedly agree with him! I think the most powerful argument against religion is that it is fundamentally intolerant, especially since we live in a world with multiple religions. If I don't profess your religion, I'm essentially different from you, at least in your eyes. And such theological intolerance necessarily leads to civil intolerance. If all the world professed a single religion, religion would not be a problem. But alas, that's why science is a much better way of dealing with reality. 7. Voting On voting. Rousseau provides two examples of legitimate voting: 1) for important and serious matters like the enactment of laws, there should be near unanimity, 2) for swift decisions like the dispatch of administrative business, a smaller majority will suffice. I think this is a really significant point of contention still, especially in America right now. If I'm not mistaken, the Democrats want to scrap the filibuster, which requires 60 votes (out of 100) to be overridden, so that most legislation can be passed with a simple majority. Firstly, pragmatically speaking, this is not wise since the Republicans will mostly have undemocratic control of the Senate in the coming years, given that all states, regardless of population size, are represented by 2 senators and most population growth is occurring in blue states. It's simply shortsighted to abolish the filibuster now, when the Democrats lack a strong mandate anyway. In 2013, the Democrats resorted to the 'nuclear option' to eliminate the use of the filibuster on executive branch nominees and judicial nominees, except for the Supreme Court until 2017. In 2017, Senate Republicans then eliminated the sole remaining exception to the 2013 change by invoking the "nuclear option" for Supreme Court nominees to allow a simple majority to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. The power of precedence is crucial in a democracy, and the Democrats should seriously consider the potential consequences of abolishing the filibuster. Secondly, in a nation as divided as the US, the filibuster's accompanying spirit of consensus and reconciliation is even more vital - America's problems are so severe not because the Democrats (assuming they are on the 'right side of history') have weak control of Congress but because the Democrats are a narrow majority in the nation. Assuming also that the Republican Party is hopeless, the Democrats should strengthen the spirit of consensus-building in Congress and enhance their appeal to all Americans, not just Democrats. Anyway, it's just silly to pass a law with a 51/100 majority and think the will of the people has prevailed. Instead of abolishing the filibuster, both Democrats and Republicans should reform it somehow, perhaps by "making it more difficult to conduct a filibuster by eliminating the two-track system, forcing senators to remain on the floor and take up precious time."