Author Archives: caroline

When man left his pure state of nature to join society, man entered into a contract with his given government. This contract operates under the condition that life and liberty be upheld above all and that said government be consensual. When man entered this state, he did so for protection from the magistrate. This protection was not free; the social contract accepted by the citizens of a state require the citizens to give up some amount of independence in order to respect the rights of his neighbors. If this man was to not respect the social contract and acted against another citizen of the state, the state has the right to punish this man.

This transgressor has the right to be punished; he has the chance to amend his wrongs by appealing to judges of authority and reason in the commonwealth. This guarantee of judgment by the commonwealth against its transgressors is a key attribute to the success of societies, for without the promise of retribution begins the road to the most undesirable state of war.

Recently, President Obama and his Department of Justice announced they will no longer use for-profit federal prisons. These prisons are owned by corporations and ran by corporations yet paid for by the government to house government criminals. This is not right.

While the violation a criminal can commit can be abysmal, the violation of the contract he entered with the state is the more egregious offense. The state renting out its punishment duties for corporations to make a profit goes against the very reason man formed societies. In the state of nature, one transgressed upon had the right to punish the transgressor. After leaving the state of nature, the right to punish granted to the state is conditional. This power of punishment, like all other powers possessed by the commonwealth, is derived from those who are governed. When one is punished by the state, he submits to the right given to the government to uphold the state’s laws. This submission guarantees the criminal is not expelled from the social contract but retains his rights as a citizen of the state.

Thus, a prisoner of the state is still in a contract with the government. Yet, when the prisoner is not left in the care of the government but some other entity, a new contract is created. This contract, however, cannot be consensual between the prisoner and private prison because the prisoner did not have control of his life to relinquish at the point of entering the private prison: the government had it. This makes the prisoner a slave of the private prison.

I applaud President Obama for taking the steps to end this cruel practice and protecting the basic rights afforded to American citizens.

When man leaves the state of nature and joins the state of the Commonwealth he forms a contract with the magistrate to be governed by laws agreed upon in the name of life and liberty. When these societies are joined, the forfeiting of the state of nature one possesses leads to one consensual body, the society. And while not every particular action of the ruler needs total consent, for it is impossible, there must be a clear majority support of the actions of the magistrate.

Men join societies for greater protection of their property, the most important being man’s own body. The protection of property is the key reason to join a commonwealth, thus citizens of the commonwealth must act to protect their property if the government over steps with their power.

Recently, The Senate approved a bill that would require young women to enlist in the draft. The draft is the forced enlistment in the military during times of war. Not only is women being forced to enter the draft wrong, the institution of forced enlistment of any citizen of the commonwealth is an infringement on one’s life, liberty, and right to protect property.

The draft forces citizens of the United States to give up their property. When one enlists in the military during time of war, there is a chance he will lose his life. When that decision is no longer left for man to decide, the government has signed away his life for him. Your body is your property; on these grounds alone the government has broken the contract agreed upon when you left your state of nature.

Perhaps some are fine with being drafted. If that is the case, then the contract between man and the government stands unharmed because said contract is still consensual. This would be the case with WWII, when patriotism was rampant and man desired to protect the government as the government had protected him. This contract, however, has not always been agreed to. The Vietnam was also used conscription, yet the people were not supportive. As such, men used their constitutional rights to protest what they felt was an overstep in power. The US hastily pulled out of said war when the country made it clear the conscription was in no way consensual.

As citizens of the United States, you have the right to protection of your property. You have the right to liberty and to not be enslaved by the government and subjected to their arbitrary power.