Obama, Fox News and the Social Contract

Were the commentators at Fox News asleep the day they discussed the social contract in class?  That is one explanation for the outrage voiced by Fox concerning the President's "You didn't build it" speech.    Either that or they are just piling on based on a poor choice of words.

Here's what happened.   President Obama gave a speech in Roanoke, Virginia.   He said:
 

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.  There was a great teacher somewhere in your life.  Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.  Somebody invested in roads and bridges.  If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that.  Somebody else made that happen.  The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.  Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.  There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own.  I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service.  That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

 The Fox folks took umbrage at that.   A headline read "Obama Insults Small Business Owners."    A press release from the Romney campaign said "OBAMA TO BUSINESS OWNERS:  'YOU DIDN'T BUILD THAT.'"     

So, did  the President say that private enterprise is worthless and that you are not worthy unless you are (in the words of a Fox News commentator I heard this morning) a community organizer or a union boss?   The answer is no.    

If you look at the rest of the speech, the President talked a lot about the importance of initiative and hard work, things that Republicans like to champion.

He said:

And what this reminded me of was that, at the heart of this country, its central idea is the idea that in this country, if you’re willing to work hard, if you’re willing to take responsibility, you can make it if you try.  That you can find a job that supports a family and find a home you can make your own; that you won’t go bankrupt when you get sick.  That maybe you can take a little vacation with your family once in a while — nothing fancy, but just time to spend with those you love.  Maybe see the country a little bit, maybe come down to Roanoke.  That your kids can get a great education, and if they’re willing to work hard, then they can achieve things that you wouldn’t have even imagined achieving.  And then you can maybe retire with some dignity and some respect, and be part of a community and give something back. 

That’s the idea of America.  It doesn’t matter what you look like.  It doesn’t matter where you come from.  It doesn’t matter what your last name is.  You can live out the American Dream.  That’s what binds us all together.  

So, did Obama give a schizophrenic speech?   Did he advocate the value of hard work and responsibility on the one hand while saying that all good comes from government on the other?   While his wording may have been a bit awkward, I understand the President to be referring to that most American of ideals, the social contract.

The social contract is a concept developed by, among others, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau.   It postulates that men give up some of their natural liberties to come together and form governments to protect their liberties.   According to Hobbes, in the state of nature, life would be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."    According to Locke, governments drew their legitimacy from the consent of the governed.    

The social contract is firmly emphasized in America's founding documents.    The Declaration of Independence states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

 The preamble to the Constitution states:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

 These documents incorporate the social contract ideas that governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed and that they exist to "establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the commence defence, promote the general Welfare, and secured the Blessings of Liberty."

The free enterprise system that Fox News and Mitt Romney so strongly treasure depends on the social contract.    Without the firm hand of government to protect it, small businesses would be plundered by those with more brute force.   Without government, there would be no court system to enforce contracts.   

However, under the social contract, government does more than simply allow free enterprise and private property to exist.   It also does those things which make life better for everyone, but which individuals could not achieve on their own.   That includes things like the interstate highway system.   

That brings me back to the President's speech.   What was it that he said people didn't build?   In context, I believe that he said that our common efforts make it possible for our individual efforts to succeed.   That is the social contract theory of government, that government exists to protect our liberties, but also to promote the general welfare.    Thus, President Obama did not insult small business; rather, he simply acknowledged that we have a debt to those who came before us as well as those who make our prosperity possible.