Rousseau takes some interesting positions in his work “The Origin of Civil Society” by looking back at the roots of how governments and societies wield their power. Rousseau believes that the current governments that we submit ourselves to take away our liberty and freedom without necessarily providing us with anything. He is perplexed with this submission that we enter into soon after our birth. Rousseau suggests that governments should be created in accordance to working to the advantage of the citizens rather than enslaving them.
I found Rousseau’s thoughts on slavery to be especially intriguing. He says that one cannot exchange their liberty for their life because one man or State should not have control of another man’s life. Also, in terms of prisoners of war, the State’s war is with another State, not the citizens. When a man acts as a defender of a State, he is giving up his liberty, but once he puts down his weapon, he becomes an individual again. As an individual, he is not an enemy of the State anymore. I think that this is not practiced in war very much today. This simplifies the rules of war to, in my opinion, quite reasonable guidelines. As long as a man is acting for the State, he is your enemy. But once he is acting for himself, he no longer is your enemy.
I thought Rousseau’s suggestion to Princes to take the land of an enemy State, but to leave the personal land of citizens untouched was in agreement with Machiavelli’s guidelines. Machiavelli says you should appear fair to your citizens, and to never touch a man’s woman or land. If you are taking over a State, you must consider the “enemy” citizens as already your people or they will not accept you as their new leader.
Though one gives up his liberty and land to join a State, he is not bound to such State. I found it especially interesting that one must join a State in order to solidify his ownership of his land. So you must give up your land in order to attain possession of it. This is rather paradoxical, but in joining a State, you are gaining the support of an army of people to help protect your land, though you do not have sole ownership of it any longer.
Can a man really give up his liberty for his life? It is true that without having life, you cannot have liberty anyways. But is a life without liberty worth living? Do we really even have liberty to exchange? Rousseau does make the point that “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” I’m not sure that we know what true liberty is. I am wondering if anyone else has thoughts on what kind of liberty we can have in the world today. It is a value we hold dear as Americans, but I’m not sure that we even know what we are holding on to. Can one have true liberty while being part of a State?
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Liberty is an essential part of being an American, and not something that can be taken away. In response to your questions, I believe that people can have true liberty while being part of the state. When the social contract comes into play and the state forms, people give up some of their rights, however they maintain their liberty.
As we discussed with the Declaration of Independence, America is founded on the belief that liberty is more important than anything, even life. Despite this belief, I have noticed that lately people, even in our class, seem all too willing to give up their liberty for life or an illusion of safety. Liberty is an unalienable right built into the basis of our government. It’s not something that can be taken or given away.
Rousseau was right to be concerned about modern governments, and it is true that historically and even today a person’s liberty can be taken away. However, such an action as shown by the social contract is neither moral nor legitimate. The social contract provides for the ideal that a liberty cannot be bought or sold, but is in fact only taken by force. Though we have abolished slavery in our country, Americans must still defend their liberty against laws that encroach upon inherent rights such as Habeas Corpus.
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