The following powerful opening lines are from the social contract, the brilliant political treatise by Jean Jacques Rousseau, which the author and philosopher wrote in exile from his home, in Geneva , that went on to inspire the French Revolution.
In it he wrote that man is naturally good, but becomes corrupted by the pernicious influence of human society and institutions. He preached that mankind could be improved by returning to nature and living a natural life of peace with his neighbors and himself. Mankind must learn to break the chains that attach themselves to our lives. A beautiful idea that we should pay more than lip service to. We have to value the concepts of freedom, equality and community.Like Rousseau tree centuries ago, we in the 21st have to look for and identify the common good that will enable our society to revive democracy,solidarity and the art of living together.
" MAN was born free, and he is everywhere in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater than they. How did this transformation come about? I do not know. How can it be made legitimate? That question I believe I can answer.
If I were to consider only force and the effects of force, I should say: 'So long as a people is constrained to obey, and obeys, it does well; but as soon as it can shake off the yoke, and shakes it off, it does better; for since it regains its freedom by the same right as that which removed it, a people is either justified in taking back its freedom, or there is no justifying those who took it away.' But the social order is a sacred right which serves as a basis for all other rights. And as it is not a natural right, it must be founded on covenants. The problem is to determine what those covenants are. "
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