It's time to focus on building a new Social Contract

avatar
(Edited)

One of the most interesting concepts of civilization is one in which it is viewed not by its art or architecture but as a completely social structure of laws and customs, commonly thought of collectively as 'The Social Contract'. If we don't like the one we have now, its up to us to define a new one, but before we get to that, let's just brush up on the meaning and implications of the social contract.

The U.S. Constitution is often cited as an explicit example of part of America’s social contract. It sets out what the government can and cannot do. People who choose to live in America agree to be governed by the moral and political obligations outlined in the Constitution’s social contract.

The first important implication of the Social Contract, is that we choose where we live. Now, we do not choose where we are born, so this might be non-obvious, but I see two sides to this. On the one hand, it might seem to take away power 'if you don't like it, you can leave' sort of attitude. On the other hand, the explicit option to 'vote with your feet' is a powerful freedom that people express all around the world, when things get rough or tough, they move.

A growing population is good for a country, while a shrinking population leads to a variety of vicious cycles. So favorable societies should, over time, receive the flow of immigrants, and result in growing and more prosperous communities. We can apparently see that going on right now within the US.

As George Costanza angrily shouted - 'We are living in a society!'

And now I'm reading about this from Millenial perspective, who have largely 'voted with their feet' by moving into their parents houses. Looks like things got tough.


image.png
Source

I am a Millennial, as they say, Millennials remember 9/11. We were the generation to bridge the technology gap, having in our lifetimes gone from nothing, to dial up internet and beyond, and in many cases are giving our babies 4g smart phones today so they can play with.

As a millennial, I can fully understand how we are 'drowning in insecurity'. And for all of you out there who understands this, let me tell you - its not about family money, its about the social contract.

See this Financial times survey goes on to prompt Millennials into claiming that the problem is based on '[people who] always have an advantage'. They have already jumped the shark on logical thinking, they are already focused on who's to blame. So take all this with a grain of salt, but don't ignore these feelings because they are quite real, and represent a lot more people than some would like to think:


image.png

Source

There are real problems with the social contract, and one way to try and fix it is to stir up a class war and break things and make sure the whole country and all of our communities get a lot poorer.

But that seems like a bad strategy to me

"We are living in a Society!"

Perhaps we indeed have degenerated. For so long, we were riding on the coattails of our ancestors, tougher, ruder and cruder, capable of surviving in a more difficult time, under stiffer conditions, and through it all build and grow a civilization.

Of course, as Billy Joel beautifully said, 'We didn't start the Fire'.

Take a look at this and tell me this is Millennials Fault. I'll go to the most recent section so some of you millennials have a chance to know about some of this suspiscious shit that has been going on since the dawn of time:

Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
"Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK – blown away, what else do I have to say?

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
"Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shore, China's under martial law
Rock and roller, cola wars, I can't take it anymore

We certainly didn't start this fire, but it is time that we start to seriously consider what are the axioms and underlying assumptions of this social contract that we are living under, to take the few bits of gold from the original and try to forge new cooperative arrangements with our local communities.

This is what is so important about crypto and crypto-tech. ZeroHedge's conclusion to the Financial Times article:


image.png

Without dwelling too much longer on the generational aspect of it, I will say that we cannot choose when we are born, we can only choose our reactions to it; like voting with our feet, we must also vote with our hands (what we choose to do) and with our heads (what we choose to think).

And it is not an option to go live in the woods, we are indeed 'living in a society', and I think you will find there are people in those woods already, and no matter how far away you go, everyone has neighbors!

In order to propose changes to the social contract though, Millennials will need to get their minds in order and take responsibility for themselves and their actions, even while living with family.

And at this time, there are many forces that want to make us more dependent that ever. You see, if you feel like a victim, then you are a victim. You have no power if you accept your powerlessness. But people, including millennials, have great power to take responsibility and improve conditions if only slightly.

In a future article, I hope to start working on some of the basic principles for a social contract - this is not just idle words from me. Here is a joke from Joe Rogan's that I find particularily on point:

If you could go back in time and grab Thomas Jefferson and bring him to [today], his first question would be:

"You guys didn't write any new shit????"

"I wrote that with a feather!! .... You lazy fux!"

Freedom and Friendship!



0
0
0.000
10 comments
avatar

Upvoted to thank you @ecoinstant for supporting the CO2Fund by, e.g., supporting posts, banner presentation, SP/HP delegation, dustsweeper gifts, helpful tools, etc.

0
0
0.000
avatar

pixresteemer_incognito_angel_mini.png
Bang, I did it again... I just rehived your post!
Week 55 of my contest just started...you can now check the winners of the previous week!
11

0
0
0.000
avatar

kill the pedos, let's see afterwards.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I, like basically every generation before me, has a difficult time relating to the generations that come after me. This doesn't mean that I think they are wrong, I just can't understand why anyone would do that. I am sure some of these have a difficult time understanding how anyone could live without the internet, but we did so for a very long time and were fine with that.

That being said, I think it is time that people just started being kind. That's not so difficult is it? No generation has to be "right" but it would be nice if we could find some common ground. The older folks that are picking on the younger folks need to remember that this exact same scenario happened to them when they were young and the younger folks need to keep in mind that as impossible as it seems they will be (if they are fortunate to make it that far) the older generation at some point in their lives and they too will have difficulty relating to whoever comes after them.

0
0
0.000
avatar

This is a fantastic point, I think the right place to start the next post in the series will be about FAMILY and this idea of generations. We have a lot more in common than we think, just not at the same time! 😅

0
0
0.000
avatar

I think so much of the idea of general respect comes from a strong family unit. I was (and am) fortunate to have one of those and feel as though it has benefitted me in my "live and let live" way of life. If people had more empathy, the world would be a much better place in general.

I look forward to your family writeup.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Countries aren't real. First thing a five year old sees when they step into a classroom is this rubbish.

Astronauts see continents during the day, and cities at night.
Countries are imaginary, existing only as a key tenet of the statist religion.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you for linking your post with the full logical argument!

I will definitely referring to this in my followup post.

0
0
0.000
avatar

'We didn't start the Fire'.
Nor did any generation that was born into their own time. It is not something specific to your generation. Every generation has to contend with this to some degree or another. Some with greater challenges than others. But as for ease and safety, the people of today for the most part have never had it so good.

And herein lies the danger. In this time we are too "comfortably numb" (following your lead with pop culture references).

There are looming threats especially with the rise of a technocratic surveillance state.

And at this time, there are many forces that want to make us more dependent than ever. You see, if you feel like a victim, then you are a victim. You have no power if you accept your powerlessness.

Agreed!

The only rights and freedoms you have are those that you make for yourself. If you have ask someone or await permission for such things, you never had them in the first place, nor will you ever until you make them for yourself.

0
0
0.000