Social Contract Theory, Collective Action, and the American Founding

Foundations of Government and Social Contract Theory

• Government is defined as a set of institutions that make official decisions regarding a nation's affairs and possess the authority to put those decisions into effect.

• Governments are established through a social contract, which is a consensus or agreement among citizens that a government is being established and granted legitimate authority.

• In the United States, the written social contract is the US Constitution. This contract is renewed every $2$ to $4$ years during elections.

• When people vote to select or reelect members of Congress or the President, they are renewing their commitment to the social contract.

• Humans enter social contracts to accomplish two primary goals:

  • To avoid the state of nature and protect unalienable legal rights.
  • To overcome collective action problems to achieve collective goals.

Understanding the State of Nature and Unalienable Rights

• The state of nature describes the condition of human existence in the absence of any organization, public goods, rules, or borders. It is the natural state of things without government.

• In the state of nature, individuals prioritize their own basic needs without coordinating with or concerning themselves with others. This environment allows the strong, powerful, and resourceful to trample the sick, weak, and poor.

• Thomas Hobbes, a philosopher writing in the $1600s$, heavily influenced the framers of the US Constitution with his bleak view of the state of nature.

• Hobbes described the state of nature as a state of "continual fear" and "danger of violent death." He famously stated that in this state, the life of man is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."

• While Hobbes used this description to justify the necessity of a strong, nearly tyrannical absolute monarch to impose order, the American framers sought a different solution due to the monarch's abuses.

• Despite their differences with Hobbes on the form of government, the framers agreed that government is necessary because unalienable (or natural) rights are in peril in the state of nature.

• Definitions of Unalienable Rights:

  • These are rights so fundamental to humanity that they are considered human or natural rights. Humans are born with these rights, and it is illegitimate for any government to substantially infringe upon or take them away.
  • Liberty: This is freedom from the arbitrary exercise of power that constricts individual choice. A simple synonym for liberty is freedom.
  • Order: This involves consistency brought on by the enforcement of laws. It is the expectation that actions infringing on the well-being of others will be restricted.
  • Equality Under the Law: The principle that rules are applied equally to all individuals and that no person is above the law.
  • Minority Rights: Protections for groups that disagree with the government or possess immutable traits such as race, gender, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. In the state of nature, majority groups can conquer or kill members of minority groups without repercussion; government acts as the outside force to protect these groups.
  • Pursuit of Happiness: The ability to pursue life as one sees fit, provided it does not infringe upon the liberty of others.

The Dual Protection of the US Constitution

• The American founding established a new global concept: unalienable rights must be protected both from the absence of government (the state of nature) and from the government itself (the monarch or tyrant).

• A constitution is a written social contract that lays out the rules, processes, and institutions of government.

• The very first written social contract in the United States was the Articles of Confederation.

• The current US Constitution, including all subsequent amendments, serves as the modern social contract.

Modern Applications of Social Contract Theory

• Social contract theory remains relevant today and helps explain modern political unrest. When people feel their unalienable rights are being infringed upon by the government, they may view the social contract as broken.

• The George Floyd Protests ($2020$):

  • Triggered by the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, these nationwide protests led some participants to explicitly reference social contract theory.
  • One protester in Atlanta argued that the social contract is a reciprocal agreement where authorities fix situations of theft or harm. She stated that because the authority (the police) was the one killing citizens, the "social contract is broken."
  • She further noted that the contract was historically broken during events like the Tulsa race massacre, where community wealth was destroyed by violence.

• The Capitol Riot (January 6, $2021$):

  • This event illustrates a perceived breakdown of the social contract regarding the electoral process. The social contract relies on the legitimacy of periodic elections to confer power.
  • Many participants believed the $2020$ election was rigged or fraudulent, which would be catastrophic for the American system if true.
  • Despite these beliefs, there was no evidence of widespread fraud. The Donald Trump campaign filed $62$ different court cases between Election Day and January 6, losing $61$ of them.
  • The single case won involved the timeframe for "curing" ballots without ID in Pennsylvania, which did not alter the election outcome.
  • Because individuals believed the social contract was frayed, they stepped outside legitimate participation and turned to rioting to interfere with the certification of electoral votes by Congress.

Collective Action Problems

• Collective action problems are inherent to human behavior and make it difficult for large groups of people to work together to achieve collective goals. Government is established to overcome these problems.

• Coordination Problems:

  • This is the tendency for large groups to struggle to settle on an optimal choice.
  • For example, a sports team or club trying to order one type of pizza might fail to reach a decision without a mechanism like a vote. Cheese might be the least offensive "cheese candidate."
  • Nationally, elections and the office of the President solve coordination problems by designating one person to make specific decisions (e.g., international affairs) for the whole group.

• The Free Rider Problem:

  • This is the tendency for people to shirk their responsibility when aiming for a public good.
  • Wikipedia serves as an example; millions use the knowledge resource, but very few actually donate to its development. Those who use it without contributing are free riders.
  • Group projects in school also illustrate this; students who do no work but receive the same grade as the rest of the group are acting as rational free riders.
  • Clean air is a public good where it is easy to free ride by driving polluting cars or supporting polluting businesses. Government solves this via taxes, penalties, and enforced rules.

• The Tragedy of the Commons:

  • This occurs when people use as much of a public good as possible until it is exhausted and no longer available.
  • A "take one" candy bowl at Halloween is often emptied immediately because individuals take more than their share.
  • In the Western United States, water scarcity is a tragedy of the commons problem. Government must step in with taxes, rules, and penalties to ensure water is distributed fairly among towns, farms, and ranches rather than being exhausted by a single entity.

Defining Politics and Political Engagement

• Politics is the process of coming to collective decisions. It involves using government to communicate preferences and gain the influence or power necessary to sway the course of collective action.

• While politics is often associated with negative connotations (e.g., strategy, arguing, or campaign contributions for access), it is the essential process for self-governance.

• Political engagement involves taking peaceful and lawful actions to renew the social contract and have one's voice heard. This includes voting, contacting officials, attending rallies, and protesting.

• The Importance of Voting and the $2016$ Election:

  • Low voter turnout can result in candidates that the majority of the population feels dissatisfied with.
  • In the $2016$ primary process, only $8\%$ of the country voted for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump to be their respective party nominees.
  • There were $19$ candidates in the Republican primaries alone, but because so few participated in the narrowing process, the broader public was left with two final choices they frequently critiqued.

The Articles of Confederation and the Path to Constitutional Reform

• The Articles of Confederation served as America’s first constitution, functioning from the mid-$1770s$ to the mid-$1780s$.

• Structure of the Articles:

  • The national government was extremely weak and solely responsible for foreign affairs and defense.
  • There was only one branch of government: a unicameral Congress (the legislature).
  • There was no President, no executive branch, no national courts, and no bureaucracy.
  • The national government had no power to tax; it had to ask states for money to pay for diplomats or an army.
  • States were supreme and held authority over all domestic affairs.
  • Amending the Articles required a unanimous decision ($13$ out of $13$ states).

• Problems caused by the Articles:

  • Rules varied wildly across state lines.
  • Economic trade was hindered by internal tariffs (taxes) charged whenever goods crossed state borders.
  • States had individual money systems (e.g., North Carolina currency vs. Virginia currency).
  • State courts were biased; a South Carolina court would favor a local farmer over a Massachusetts bank in a debt dispute.

• Economic and Social Crisis:

  • Thomas Jefferson compared the situation to living under "hundreds of despots," arguing it was as oppressive as the British monarchy.
  • Because states refused to send money to the national government, the government could not address the economic crisis.
  • Shays' Rebellion: A Massachusetts farmer, owed money for his service in the Revolution, led an armed uprising. Rebels took over government buildings, raided an armory, and shut down courthouses to protest the economic crisis.
  • This anarchy signaled a return to the state of nature, where life, liberty, and property were in danger.

• The Constitutional Convention:

  • George Washington advocated for a total rewrite, stating, "Let us have a government by which our lives, liberties, and properties will be secure or let us know the worst at once."
  • The resulting US Constitution focused on the goals stated in its Preamble: to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, and provide for the general welfare. This was the social contract redesigned to achieve collective goals while protecting rights.