Can we sue for breach of the Social Contract?

[Atticus]

About 250 years ago, a man named Rousseau first described what he called "The Social Contract". He wrote an entire treatise about it, but it could be summed up by saying that, in order to obtain the benefits of living in an ordered society, all of us delegate some of what would otherwise be our natural rights to the government. Instead of each of us being totally responsible for our own protection and the safety of our families; instead of each of us having the right to do whatever we thought necessary to accomplish this, including punishing those who harm us in any way, we subject ourselves to---law.

We agree that, if we violate the law, the government can punish us. But, the other part of the Social Contract is that everyone else is subject to the same law, the same set of rules. We have the right to expect that others who violate the law will be punished JUST LIKE WE WOULD BE. And, this is the simple, straightforward, bedrock reason why Bush, Cheney and all who participated in the systematic rape of our Constitution and our laws MUST be investigated, prosecuted and punished.

Anything less will sow seeds of anarchy and insurrection in the hearts and minds of those who bear witness to the unspoken pardon issued to the powerful. In this generation, perhaps the next, people will begin to follow the example we set in the first term of the "Change" administration: Laws are subject to unwritten "exceptions" that may apply, or not, depending on how powerful the transgressors are, how inconvenient or embarrassing prosecution would be or, well, there will certainly be other exceptions from time to time. If we are all "created equal" and some get to violate the law, admit it, brag about it and never be called to account, why should any of us follow`all the laws? Why shouldn't everyone get to pick and choose the rules they will follow?

If we refuse to prosecute the Bush administration criminals, we will have abandoned the rule of law, the cornerstone of the foundation of our democracy. And, we'll have torn up the Social Contract.

[hootinholler]

1. Well, we did that with Nixon's pardon.

Ended all investigation into the matter. THat should have been the beginning of his grilling in front of Congress and later in front of a grand jury.

-Hoot

[Atticus]

2. I've heard it persuasively argued that our failure to prosecute Nixon---

virtually guaranteed that future Presidents would "understand" that the laws didn't "really" apply to them. Iran-Contra and the invasion of Iraq with all of the Constitutional dominos that it toppled likely would not have occurred if these power-hungry Republicans had thought their posteriors could wind up in a sling.

[Oregone]

3. You don't have to. If its in breach, property rights are revoked

You can just start burning their homes and taking their shit