The Real Problem? The Social Contract is Broken

God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy # we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off. -Tyler Durden, Fight Club

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Economic recessions, police brutality, de facto martial law, societal breakdown, degenerating values, and rampant immorality--these are the things that I see when I look around this once-great nation. What happened? What happened?

There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish... it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter. -Marcus Aurelius, Gladiator

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I think we all know what happened. All problems in this country can be distilled down to one simple issue:

The social contract is broken, and it's not getting fixed.

The great and venerable scholar Wikipedia writes,

In moral and political philosophy, the social contract or political contract is a theory or model... that typically addresses the questions of the origin of society and the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual.

When the state is corrupt, the people become increasingly lawless. And because of that lawlessness, the state removes the velvet glove of diplomacy and unleashes the iron fist of authoritarianism that's lurking beneath. From that point on, it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. The government needs to engage in more corruption to enforce its "legitimacy," and the people devolve into further depravity to rebel implicitly or openly against an increasingly unjust system.

Once that perpetual motion device goes into action, it'll keep on going back and forth until both sides consume themselves. The metronome keeps ticking, the snake devours its own tail, the phoenix flares into ash as though it might never return.

Although we might fear what comes next, although we might wish it could be another way, this seems inevitable.

New Rome is destined for collapse, and it all began the moment the cancer of corruption and wanton greed seeped into the lifeblood of our political system. In the United States the social contract used to be the Constitution. This was the groundwork, the lynchpin, the foundation stone upon which everything was built. Quite clearly it laid out the ground rules for this society and its people, the expectations the government should have of the people and the restrictions the people could enforce upon those in power.

Quite clearly it lays out those acts that must be performed, that could be performed. And in even clearer language it enumerates those things that the state must NEVER do.

Not only has the government inched over that boundary of the prohibited, it's seeking to completely eviscerate it. If you're still living in a fantasy world where you think you have inalienable rights, it's time for a quick fact check.

And here's another fact we should all be checking. The ONLY conditions under which we agreed to government rule are by those in the Constitution. It's a contract like any other--a social contract--and when one party fails to live up to its obligations, all bets are off.

When the social contract is shattered, the individual has no moral obligation to follow the dictates of the state. You need not obey any law to which lawmakers themselves refuse to adhere. You need not shackle yourself with any unseen cincture that offends the premises of your innate morality. Difficult times lay ahead, and difficult choices will need be made. It's up to each of us to follow the dictates of our hearts and minds and avoid turning into the same kinds of monsters as those who proclaim themselves to be our so-called "leaders," our venerable "rulers."

Like our monetary supply of worthless fiat, this country's legitimacy is now backed with nothing of value. So stop listening to the talking heads, stop feasting on the propaganda, stop believing the lies. We all know what's really going on in this country, and the higher virtues of truth and honor and justice are commodities that the establishment has in short supply.

The criminals in power are just bailing water from a sinking ship, struggling to escape with as much loot as possible before the waters close over their heads. Forget them. Their time is over. Our time is now.

The phoenix might now be burning, it'll surely be ash soon. But it will return.

So get ready. Start thinking about the new form you'd like it to take. Start thinking about the better world that could so easily be.

Change is sweeping across the land, and storms are beginning to brew. What happened at the Bundy's ranch in Nevada is only a symptom of the underlying disease. Trust has been broken, the contract has been breached. And we're all the victims--trapped in an abusive relationship where we've yet to gather up enough courage to take that leap into the great unknown and walk away from this despotic regime.

But we will. We will.

Can't you see what's coming next?

Once cracks appear in the foundation, the building is destined to fall. It's only a matter of time. So we wait and wait, we watch and we hope, praying certain things won't come to pass, but already suffering the knowledge that they're destined to occur.

You need no crystal ball to divine this future.

Is it the beginning of the end? Or merely an end of the beginning?

As for that, I'll let each of you decide. All I know is, they can take their broken system and shove it--I didn't sign on to this #.

a reply to: JonButtonIII
Very impressive.
You are right. I've been seeing the parallels to Rome for years now.

Thanks for posting this. It will crash...and sometimes I just wonder how long I can hang on, how long I can "stall" before I have to become an indentured slave to that broken contract. I'm on the edge - every day, pondering - should I just do what they are doing and screw them over, too?? Refuse to play? Throw a flag on the field?

Yeah, there will be consequences, because I'm a 'nobody'. What seem like huge problems to me are laughably trivial to these powerful moguls....they don't really need me, and withholding my paltry participation won't hurt anyone. But it might very well be worth it.

And if we all did it - just stopped playing the game. Well - that house of cards, you know....if we all blow on it, it can't stand.

I feel the simmering angst and fury....just wondering how far they will push me before I decide to breach a contract myself. Lord knows I've been screwed over already - how much worse can it get? There's no way out anyway, except if collectively we simply stop playing.

Very well written and I couldn't agree more.

There's something very very wrong with the world right now.

You had me at "Fight Club."

I agree, I hope so... we'll see... but the system is pretty darned entrenched.

Most everyone can see where things could be better... that govt really could be benevolent, honorable and there only if wanted or needed to lend support... and how everyone could have an economic base to build up from and society could invest in the long term important things... like giving free education and health care and researching energy tech that wouldn't kill us, space exploration, etc.

We're taught that these "utopian" ideals aren't possible in the "real world." BS. Honor and vision still exists... and people just have to be reminded of what's really possible as far as our society... which is nearly anything.

Why can't we develop and plan a system where there's no need for corruption since we all have access to the things wealth brings... and have more free time to do what we want to do in our short lives?

We're sold a story that this is not possible from people who already live this way. We can all live that way.

My father taught me thus.....years ago, when I was only a child on his knee......
He was in Winnepeg in 1936 and watched the Mounties trying to read the riot act so they could start firing at the people....and the people pulling them down off their horses so they couldn't read that act and fire.....
He never forgot what a travesty the government is and he taught me well.....
Now im 68 and the circle is coming round to the crunch.....I hope I lve long enough to get a few licks in too......
We have ALL been betrayed by those whom we trusted with authority....they have stolen our birthright.

a reply to: JonButtonIII

where does any concept of social contract fit with "rational selfishness" that is the cornerstone of conservative/libertarian/corporatist thinking?

Corporations are now people. They have rights. They are super human in some respects. Rational selfishness is in the DNA of every corporation. People are adopting corporate values as their personal values.

Guys like Paul Ryan parade around smirking and thinking this is moral. It's not. It's amoral, corrosive to society and inevitably self destructive.

a reply to: InverseLookingGlass

I think we're both on the same page about that. Corporations aren't people. In fact, I don't think publicly traded companies should be allowed to exist.

The second a corporation/exec's job mission becomes "maximize shareholder value," they've just accepted a de facto corollary objective of "screw the workers and everyone else as hard as possible to make that happen."

In a rational and just society, this is obviously unacceptable behavior.

We need to return to the original days where we remember why the hell we're working in the first place. The point of a business is to provide a living for the people who actually work there...not to provide bags of ill-gotten wealth for some shadowy dbags that invested in the company and prioritize profit over humanity.

JonButtonIII said:
I think we're both on the same page about that. Corporations aren't people.

I am afraid that most politicians would disagree with you on that. Corporations have lots of money. To a politician, anything that has lots of money is a person. Anything that does not have lots of money is an obstacle.

originally posted by: JonButtonIII
a reply to: InverseLookingGlass

I think we're both on the same page about that. Corporations aren't people. In fact, I don't think publicly traded companies should be allowed to exist.

The second a corporation/exec's job mission becomes "maximize shareholder value," they've just accepted a de facto corollary objective of "screw the workers and everyone else as hard as possible to make that happen."

In a rational and just society, this is obviously unacceptable behavior.

We need to return to the original days where we remember why the hell we're working in the first place. The point of a business is to provide a living for the people who actually work there...not to provide bags of ill-gotten wealth for some shadowy dbags that invested in the company and prioritize profit over humanity.

OK, corporations aren't people, but what about unions? Both are entities comprised of lots of people who can now have a say in their political futures. Prior to Citizens United, only unions had that ability.

Either both are considered able to play politics as entities or neither are because I see no difference between the two.

And why only nail the greed of the political system? Greed exists at all levels from you and I on up. You can't blame the so-called brain-washing for making you want things. You make you want things.

Nice overview...

I'm convinced that the root of the problem far eclipses modern times and goes clear back to the Garden.

I don't see the problem as being the government itself but those who are hiding BEHIND it.

"The Illuminati started long before 1776, It has it's roots in the mystery religions which the knights templar perpetuated. In Nimrod's time, Semiramis brought back the mystery religions which were from before the time of Noah. The Illuminati was just a different name by which these same entities existed. They can change their name a thousand times, but the same entities run it."

Illuminati Roots

originally posted by: incoserv

I am afraid that most politicians would disagree with you on that. Corporations have lots of money. To a politician, anything that has lots of money is a person. Anything that does not have lots of money is an obstacle.

I guarantee most politicians would disagree with me on that. But I don't mind.

Just between us, I don't think politicians should be considered people, either.

What happened is capitalism without a cause or direction. If you do not have a goal, like reaching the moon, then money does not become a tool, to achieve wealth, but money becomes the beginning and the end. What you get is a downward spiral, where monetary wealth is sucked out of the system with talent and initiative laying bare because less and less money goes towards it. Why should America design great cars if you can get rich quick with a nice fastfood franchise. Sure, there have been bright spots recently, like Apple kicking off smartphones, but how much of that tech came from America and what else is there?

If money becomes the only goal, then anything goes, producing products in a country where a repressive regime keeps costs low, front running customers and the quest for shortcuts to wealth and draining ever more money out of the system.

originally posted by: BuzzyWigs

And if we all did it - just stopped playing the game. Well - that house of cards, you know....if we all blow on it, it can't stand.

Super-important point, here--thanks for bringing it up!

This system requires our consent to abuse us. TPTB are looping the noose around our necks, but WE'RE the ones pulling it tighter. As soon as we decide to stop destroying ourselves, this entire illuminati pyramid is going to fall.

a reply to: ketsuko

Don't need a union. Imagine... all the people.....living life in peace....