America is a state in crisis. With over 100,000 deaths from Covid-19, 20 million unemployed, and outrage over apparently inexorable police violence, the country looks increasingly chaotic. To end the strife and settle its mistakes, America needs a new social contract.
A social contract is an implied consensus between members of a society to cooperate for social and economic benefits. People agree to sacrifice some of their freedoms in exchange for state protection of their rights. Though not explicit, elements of a social contract are present in a country’s constitution, a document that outlines the reach of the state in individuals’ lives all while defining the limits of an individual’s liberty. The breakup of the social contract results in the destruction of society; when society cannot agree on a relationship between the people and the government, then there is no society at all.
America finds itself in a similar situation today. Though not a failed state, many feel the government has betrayed them—bungling its response to the coronavirus pandemic, crashing the economy to levels not seen since the Great Depression, and unleashing widespread violence against racial minorities, namely African Americans. The aftermath of George Floyd’s tragic death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer illustrates the sense of injustice, with thousands of protestors now marching in the streets calling for fundamental judicial and political reforms—despite often intense police opposition. Concerns over inequality—especially in regard to the disproportional suffering Covid-19 causes in black communities—lack of decisive legislative action in recent years, and perverse policing standards, boiled over, causing the strife seen on America’s streets today.
What can be done to unite the nation once more? There are two options: strangle dissent or listen to calls for change. The current administration looks inclined toward the former. President Trump recently tweeted “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”—a direct threat to the mostly peaceful protestors. He also forcibly removed dissidents near the White House and tweeted a letter on Thursday calling the same people “terrorists”, contrasting America’s respect for civil dissent with seemingly authoritarian instincts. He even considered invoking the military (the National Guard is already deployed), casting an eerie, Orwellian shadow over peaceful protests. (His actions were criticized by 280 former senior US officials, who drafted a letter challenging the president’s use of force.) With a Nixonian fondness for “law and order”, Trump’s solution appears simple: quell the unrest with force, maintain the status quo, and keep the nation divided between his own supporters and the so-called “Radical Left”. Demonizing opponents—by, for example, declaring the left-wing Antifa group a terrorist organization—will energize his base and strike fear in Americans. Through this strategy, the same anxiety that propelled him to victory will only increase. It will leave the nation more divided, not less.
The alternative way forward is for Congress and the White House to listen to the nation’s grievances and push for change. Even before the unrest following Floyd’s death, America was uneasy. The pandemic wiped out the longest economic expansion in the nation’s history and replaced it with a devastating downturn. Over 100,000 Americans are dead—a larger tally than after the Vietnam War. Concerns over income inequality—a hot topic even before the virus struck—were vindicated as research showed poorer communities, especially communities of color, suffered the most deaths from coronavirus and higher job losses. Not to mention that anger over inequality and police violence has been widespread since the 2008 financial crisis and the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
It seems clear, therefore, that change is inevitable; indignation has been building up for a decade now. But that does not mean it will happen quickly. It is up to us, the people, to force the presidency and legislature to act. That means fundamentally reworking our relationship with the government: we must create a new social contract by demanding more from our leaders. Before the hardships of the 1930s, Americans did not expect much from their government. When disaster struck during the Great Depression, few called for a government stimulus to boost the economy; the idea of the state involving itself in economic affairs was, indeed, radical at the time. But Roosevelt’s New Deal changed that. Besides from the policies it pushed forward—such as a right to unemployment benefits or Social Security—it established a new association between the individual and the state. The idea of the government acting in economic affairs or local politics to promote social good became common. In fact, it directly led to the sweeping legislative changes of Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society, where the state routinely intervened to safeguard civil rights and ensure consumer protection.
The America of today needs a similar overhaul of the relationship between people and state. After a decade of static government, Americans demand significant legislative changes. Partisan opposition currently halts any meaningful legislation, but a return to a New-Deal coalition of both Democrats and Republicans is possible. Many issues can and should receive political support from both sides of the aisle. Rising inequality should worry Democrats, concerned with racial justice, but also Republicans, who cherish the American Dream. Police violence and militarization anger Democrats since its victims are often minorities, notably African Americans; but police brutality should also alarm Republicans, as they claim to support limited government and individual freedoms. Other crucial matters can have bipartisan solutions. When it comes to climate change, for example, a carbon tax satisfies the Democrats’ desire to reduce carbon emissions while also being a market-based solution, checking Republican boxes. If only the people—particularly young, activist-minded individuals—continue to lobby both their Democratic and Republican representatives, then we can achieve the dire legislative action this country needs.
The coronavirus pandemic and George Floyd’s death revealed many of America’s problems while also highlighting the people’s fury with the status quo. As demonstrations slowly abate across the country after almost two weeks of action, lawmakers should seize the movement to pass meaningful legislation and unite the nation. The social contract must change—we must continue to lobby the government to act on the vital issues of our time instead of idly preserving the status quo. The state should not expand or control our lives; rather, it must mobilize its legislative and executive capacities to deliver the change the people so desperately crave. Because if not now, then when?