The Social Contract

John F. Kennedy famously exhorted the American people in the 1960s to: "ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."
It is all very well for President Kennedy to urge his fellow Americans because the United States, then as now, is the richest nation on the face of the planet.

In the context of the Philippines, which has never tasted prosperity in its 62 years as a republic, such a call is downright laughable. Most impoverished Filipinos are simply too busy trying to survive to even bother to react. Ten million Filipinos are toiling in distant lands to give their families in the Philippines a better life and no thanks to the Philippine government for not providing the climate necessary to create job opportunities.

The English philosopher, John Locke, argued that man is endowed by God with natural rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. These rights are inalienable and may not be taken away by the state. Man, however, entered into a social contract with the state to give up his natural rights in return for the protection of the latter.

In a democracy, sovereignty resides with the people and all power emanates from them. Thus, a government may exist only with the concent of the governed. When the government fails to comply with the terms and conditions of the agreement, the people, in an election, have the right to withdraw the mandate given to govern.

It is the job of the government to serve the people and not the other way around.