Essay On Rousseau's The Social Contract

Capitalism’s Corruption:
The Incompatibility of Capitalism and Democracy Rousseau’s The Social Contract is one of the most important political writings in modern history. In this work Rousseau explains the radical and revolutionary ideas of modern democracy. These ideas would inspire the people of France during the French Revolution and the founding of the United States government. While the United States was inspired by Rousseau’s ideas found in the Social Contract, the founding fathers ignored a crucial idea; capitalism is not compatible with democracy. In this paper I will be discussing Rousseau’s ideas of how private interests, which is the basis of capitalism, disrupts democracy and how a democratic citizen must think of not just oneself but also one’s society. Citizenship in a democracy means that one must rise above man’s animalistic natures and to think for the common good. The animalistic nature in man is not as hard to find as one may hope. In the Social Contract, Rousseau explains how the state of natural man is selfish, stupid, and individualistic. To be a citizen in a democratic society one must let go of his need of oneself and instead be focused on the need of the general wellbeing of society. Rousseau explains the differences …show more content…
In democracy the ideas of supporting society as a whole and the idea that community is more important than self-interest. This is the not the case in capitalism; it is expected for a capitalist to do whatever is necessary to get ahead in the world. The citizen of a democracy is well versed in public events and affairs and uses a vote to help better society as a whole, while the capitalist is only interested in which candidate will support one’s self-interests. Rousseau was very harsh toward self-interest in government for a reason. When self-interest is involved the betterment of society falls to the