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I think it was Locke who talked about the "Social Contract". The idea being that society robbed man of the opportunity to live as a "feral" by inventing propert

I think it was Locke who talked about the "Social Contract". The idea being that society robbed man of the opportunity to live as a "feral" by inventing property rights and restricting their right to roam; therefore society owes each member a subsistence at least equivalent to the one nature would have provided. I'm not sure I agree with Locke, but I at least feel that the parks are meant to exist as a partial means of living up to that contract and should be less strictly patrolled than this one was on that day.

dimal 1y ago
That’s an interesting argument. I looked it up. Looks like it’s from Thomas Paine in Agrarian Justice.[0] It’s essentially an argument for universal basic income. Crazy, radical stuff, and it’s hosted on a government website! [0] https://www.ssa.gov/history/paine4.html https://www.ssa.gov/history/paine4.html
- stevenAthompson 1y ago
  It's been a very long time since I studied it, but... The founders of the US (including Paine) took most/much of their inspiration from the works of Locke who popularized a lot of the ideas about inalienable/natural rights coming from God and governing requiring the consent of the governed. I'm fairly certain that Locke adapted ideas from some some older source, but Locke's work is considered foundational to the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and some of his phrasings found their way into both documents. Definitely worth reading more about it if you're into that sort of thing. Especially in the current political climate where everything that doesn't fit the agenda is fast being swept beneath the rug of history.