Contemporary Issues: Rousseau

Rousseau’s Social Contract discusses the development and formation of government, as well as the nature of rights and freedom. The social contract is as relevant today as ever, because it raises the question of what requirements does a government need to meet to be a legitimate government and what rights do people absolutely have to have.
America as a country has often held high ideals of freedom and equality for all and yet rarely have those ideals been faithfully acted upon. Rousseau believed that because everyone gave up equal rights for the social contract, they in turn were given equal rights. Unfortunately, as we can see this somewhat idealistic view never seems to translate to the real world. Even in America, prejudice and inequality are still a fact of life. We talked in class earlier about affirmative action, such a law would be unnecessary if people were given equal rights by the government from the beginning.
The social contract came about by people in a state of nature coming together and giving up some rights in order to form and have the protection and stability of a government which represents the people. To be a legitimate government, the ruling body should represent the views and wants of the people. Unfortunately, in many situations, especially in a dictatorship, this is not the case. The views of the people are not always represented fairly even in America, where a law such as the Patriot Act can be passed despite the protests and disagreement of many.
Rousseau was considered radical for his time, because he suggested a method for changing governments completely, and not just making changed to the current government. As we have seen in the past decade or so, changing governments is not always easy or in reality effective. The Soviet Union was disbanded from communism, yet there are still difficulties in maintaining a fair democracy. In Iraq, America overthrew a dictator in order to create a democracy. Still 3 years later, the democratic government has problems running and controlling the country, while there is current unrest among different demographic groups.