Afternoon Must-Read: Aaron Carroll: The Social Contract and Health-Care Reform

Aaron Carroll: The Social Contract and health care reform: “The social contract is an implicit understanding…

between people and the society in which they live about how society should be organized, how benefits are distributed, and how shared responsibilities are defined for all citizens. The beauty of the social contract is that it conveys many messages, not a singular one. It conveys the message of shared decisionmaking, but equally it conveys a political message of accountability and responsibility…. Rousseau… society organizes itself according to the expectations that people have for human flourishing…. Hobbesian… limited rights and freedoms…. The beauty and the frustration of using social-contract speak is that it can convey political messages across the entire spectrum, from the most conservative to the most progressive…