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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 22, 2023

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All the social contract theorists are the same in several respects. One of which is that all of them are trying to find a justification for the authority of the state -- a reason (other than naked force) that one should obey. Note that means they are all starting from the conception that you must indeed obey. You talked earlier about reciprocal obligations; those do not exist at the individual level in social contract theory (and certainly not Hobbes); they exist in feudalism. And feudalism worked only in a different world, where the sovereign's power wasn't all that great compared to his vassals, and even a gang of bandits could aspire to cut themselves out a small fiefdom. Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, there's none of that. The sovereign (or its representative, government, in Locke and Rousseau's version) speaks and you must obey. Hobbes says this crappy agreement is better than the alternative. Locke says if you don't like it, tough, move to some ungoverned land, and Rousseau allows for legitimate rebellion but not disobedience.

None of the social contract theorists would agree that it is OK to unlawfully carry a weapon in New York City, and all would agree that if caught the government is perfectly justified in acting against the weapon carrier. Regardless of whatever obligations the government was not fulfilling.