Editing Social contract (section)

===Elections===
[[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] argued that societal laws are upheld up the collective will of the citizens whom they represent. Thus, in obeying laws, the citizen "remains free." Within elections, the will of the establishment is the will of the collective. Barring corruption, the legitimacy of the democratic government is absolute.<ref>[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/ Jean Jacques Rousseau] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020024853/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/ |date=2017-10-20 }} on the [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]</ref>
{{blockquote|In every real democracy, magistracy is not an advantage, but a burdensome charge which cannot justly be imposed on one individual rather than another. The law alone can lay the charge on him on whom the lot falls. For, the conditions being then the same for all, and the choice not depending on any human will, there is no particular application to alter the universality of the law. |[[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]], ''The Social Contract or Principles of Political Right. Book IV''<ref>[https://www.bartleby.com/168/403.html Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778).  Social Contract & Discourses.  1913. The Social Contract or Principles of Political Right. Book IV Chapter III. Elections] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106162236/https://www.bartleby.com/168/403.html |date=2023-01-06 }} on [[Bartleby.com]]</ref>}}

According to other social contract theorists, when the government fails to secure their natural rights ([[John Locke|Locke]]) or satisfy the best interests of society, citizens can withdraw their obligation to obey or change the leadership through elections or other means including, when necessary, violence. Locke believed that [[Natural and legal rights|natural rights]] were inalienable, and therefore the rule of God superseded government authority, while Rousseau believed that democracy (majority-rule) was the best way to ensure welfare while maintaining individual freedom under the rule of law. The Lockean concept of the social contract was invoked in the [[United States Declaration of Independence]].<ref>[https://people.smu.edu/religionandfoundingusa/declaration-of-independence-introduction/sample-page-2/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230106162235/https://people.smu.edu/religionandfoundingusa/declaration-of-independence-introduction/sample-page-2/|date=2023-01-06}} at the [[Southern Methodist University]]</ref>