ROUSSEAU AND THE COLLECTIVIST CONCEPT OF FREEDOM:

Rousseau, despite his personal ties to key Enlightenment figures, carved out a staunchly contrary position – irrationalist and statist to the core. To call him a generic “national socialist” would be quite fair. If Orwell’s “Freedom Is Slavery” slogan ever struck you as over-the-top, try Rousseau’s notorious line from The Social Contract: “Whoever refuses to obey the general will will be forced to do so by the entire body; this means merely that he will be forced to be free.”

Back during the financial crisis, a reader facing foreclosure emailed me for help. “Demand that they produce a signed copy of your mortgage agreement,” I suggested. The bank was unable to do so (those things were traded so many times that the paperwork was usually lost), and the tenor of discussion shifted rapidly.

No one ever seems to be able to produce my signed copy of the social contract.