argue for political rights of members of society. That being said, their philosophies are also contradictory. Rousseau like other philosophers talks about a state of nature, which has evolved to be one full of self-interest. In order for man within a community to realize his natural freedoms, all persons must come together and form a social contract as he calls it. In it, no person is above another, and all will therefore make unanimous decisions with the best interests of society in mind, what he calls the general will(Rousseau 50-51). Full Participation in government(i.e. voting) will allow for the people themselves to be the authors of the laws that govern them, and likewise obey them willingly. The goal of government is the common good of all, which Rousseau argues is reached only through following the general will of the public made possible by active participation in government(Rousseau 57-58). Rosseau is concerned with protecting the freedom of all people in society, making any sort of state government by just the elite or single person incompatible with the general will he lays out. In discussing laws, Rousseau notes that laws are only applicable concerning the good of all people, not any one individual or group.(Rousseau 66-67). He speaks highly of human nature and alludes to outside interests being the corrupting factors in previous societies. Following the general will of the people will esure civil liberty is protected. While for Rousseau democracy is clearly the only type of government in which the sovereign collective can function properly, he goes further by dispelling the idea of representative democracy which he believes to be a form of laziness; humans “enslave” themselves to representatives who in turn decide the freedom of all. Rosseau seems to believe that direct democracy is th>