If you’re like me, and you sometimes are, you wonder about things that used to be givens that are now brought into question on a regular basis. It wasn’t that long ago that we had some known facts that we simply did not question: there are two genders, male and female, easily determined with a quick physical examination at birth; if you get caught breaking the law, there are consequences, and if you obey the law, you will have no such consequences; government cannot spy on its citizens without a warrant, signed by a judge, specifying exactly what they are searching for; elections are for citizens to vote for the candidates and issues they prefer, and the entire process strives to be accurate and adequately protected from fraud; the supreme law of the US is the US Constitution, and Congress and the Supreme Court are limited by that document; and that list goes on and on. Now, our ‘known facts’ are under constant attack. I’ve truly lost count at how many purported genders there now are, and apparently, they can be assigned by the whim of the person at will. We see obvious unpunished lawbreakers, be they FBI, DOJ, election officials, or the random rioter, arsonist, or looter, or illegal immigrant. We see law-abiding citizens financially destroyed by not baking a cake, or by government action to address COVID-19. Police and other agencies are now able to track your movements, and possibly your call history and data, without a search warrant. The potential shenanigans of the 2020 election lay waste to the idea that any integrity is enforced in the entire process. Congress seems to write laws that are blatantly contrary to the US Constitution, and the Supreme Court doesn’t seem to want to address them at all, unless it is a favorite topic. But I’ll narrow the focus of this writing to something that used to be an iron-clad, stone cold lock: contracts.
A ‘contract’ is a legally binding document that states an offer of a good or service, ‘consideration’ (the price exchanged for the good or service), the terms of the agreement, and the acceptance of the agreement by all parties. It is a voluntary agreement for all parties, defining what is to be done, for how much, and the terms of the agreement. In its simplest form, it is ‘I will provide X, if you pay Y, under Z conditions, and we both sign to cement the transaction’. If this contract is broken by either party, we have the court system to adjudicate our claim of damages due to breaking it. Note that a contract is invalid if either party entering into it is not of sound mind, is under duress to sign it, or if the action involved is a criminal activity. Contracts are also not legally binding if a party to the contract is not a legal adult—in this case, the contract may not be binding for the non-adult party, but quite enforceable for the other. Also note that, other than questioning the legality of said contract, no one that is not a signing entity to the contract has any input. If the contract is signed by you and me, we are the only parties affected by it.
Contracts between countries are called ‘treaties’, and are subject to the ratification process of each country involved. For example, if the US enters into a treaty with another country, the President or members of his State Department may agree to it, but the treaty is not ratified until it passes ‘the advice and consent’ of the US Senate, and that consent requires a two thirds majority approval vote. How has this changed recently? President Joe Biden cancelled the international portion of the Keystone XL Pipeline project via Executive Order, thus ending the entire project. Yet contracts were signed, both in the US and Canada. This SHOULD have been a binding agreement (treaty). Many people were contractually hired to construct and operate that pipeline, and they planned their lives based upon that signed agreement. Some construction folks relocated to the areas affected; many oil partners in Canada based millions of dollars of infrastructure investment into what was then a done-deal terminal point to send oil. Now, with the signing of the EO, all of those contracts are void. Don’t like it? Lost a ton of investment cash? Sue the US government. Good luck with that. One wonders will any party will enter into such an agreement with the US government in the future, if a new administration can nullify signed contracts and treaties at will?
In a related topic, we have had what we generally call the ‘social contract’. Since even before the US was the US, we have had accepted roles and responsibilities fairly well defined for each member’s place in society. We have entire systems in place to maintain those roles and responsibilities—military to protect our country; police to enforce traffic and personal safety laws; courts to try people accused of breaking laws; prisons to house those found guilty of breaking laws, depending upon sentence; censors of broadcast television networks, to avoid exposing children to non-age-appropriate material (cable, streaming, and video systems are at the control of the viewer, so not subject to such rules), etc. While all of these functions are funded by taxpayers, they are run by local, State, and Federal elected officials. From the police chief to the Chairman of the FCC, we expect certain services to be performed.
So, what happens when they simply do not do what their job entails? Police departments have been issued ‘stand down’ commands during riots, removing their necessary role at their greatest time of need! Maybe it didn’t make the news cycle, but I’m not aware of the lawbreakers being charged, tried, or punished, for their deeds. At the Grammy Awards, the US was subjected to what was universally viewed as an obscene, sexually explicit ‘performance’ by artist Cardi B, on a nationwide, network broadcast. Please remind me why we have an FCC? If our end of the ‘social contract’ is to pay for police protection and enforcing decency requirements, or any tax-supported functions, via our tax dollars, and the entities involved break their end of the contract by non-performance, why are we still on the hook for our tax dollars? Has our ‘social contract’ been voided, like the Keystone XL Pipeline treaty, and we just were not informed? And if that contract is no longer in force, when do we stop that whole ‘taxing’ thing?
