The Social Contract

Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.

To yield to force is an act of necessity, not of will—at the most, an act of prudence. In what sense can it be a duty?

But the social order is a sacred right which is the basis of all other rights. Nevertheless, this right does not come from nature, and must therefore be founded on conventions.

"The problem is to find a form of association which will defend and protect with the whole common force the person and goods of each associate, and in which each, while uniting himself with all, may still obey himself alone, and remain as free as before." This is the fundamental problem of which the Social Contract provides the solution.

Let us then admit that force does not create right, and that we are obliged to obey only legitimate powers. In that case, my original question recurs.