Rousseau explains in the Social Contract how a body of people can not give up their freedom and their rights, even voluntarily. The act is considered invalid, as the moment one gives up his rights can't be considered sane, and therefore his rights must be given back to him, his fate to be decided by someone else. Since though there is no one else that can decide for someone else's rights, every one of us is, in one way, "forced" to accept our civil rights and live with them. Even if such an act was possible, it is valid only for the period of the person's life. The rights of freedom, equality and life are owned by people from the moment they are born, so a newborn is born free!
Those that have read George Orwell's 1984 know that democracy has, to some extend, already been "put on hold", from the moment that people are forced to live among cameras and experience body searches to travel from one country to another, even between trusted countries like in the EU. It's only the illusion of democracy and the illusion of rights that we still have when we are born. The constitution gives you the right to vote, and the government can't take it away from you. But they can make you not want to vote, and that's what they do. In the US they have like 50% of the country's voters not voting. In Greece here, we had 35%. Both percentages are terrifying. Pericles said that he who doesn't get involved in the matters of the state isn't just indifferent but an enemy, a "villain" as he puts it.
The only way to get real hold of your rights is, as stated above, to become educated. Only then are you a real threat to the governors of the place and only a government that is afraid of its people is able to act on their behalf. Giving up your rights voluntarily is just what they want you to do. But what was gained by the French revolution and the european renaissance can not be taken away from us neither by force nor "voluntarily".
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Rousseau explains in the Social Contract how a body of people can not give up their freedom and their rights, even voluntarily. The act is considered invalid, as the moment one gives up his rights can't be considered sane, and therefore his rights must be given back to him, his fate to be decided by someone else. Since though there is no one else that can decide for someone else's rights, every one of us is, in one way, "forced" to accept our civil rights and live with them. Even if such an act was possible, it is valid only for the period of the person's life. The rights of freedom, equality and life are owned by people from the moment they are born, so a newborn is born free! Those that have read George Orwell's 1984 know that democracy has, to some extend, already been "put on hold", from the moment that people are forced to live among cameras and experience body searches to travel from one country to another, even between trusted countries like in the EU. It's only the illusion of democracy and the illusion of rights that we still have when we are born. The constitution gives you the right to vote, and the government can't take it away from you. But they can make you not want to vote, and that's what they do. In the US they have like 50% of the country's voters not voting. In Greece here, we had 35%. Both percentages are terrifying. Pericles said that he who doesn't get involved in the matters of the state isn't just indifferent but an enemy, a "villain" as he puts it. The only way to get real hold of your rights is, as stated above, to become educated. Only then are you a real threat to the governors of the place and only a government that is afraid of its people is able to act on their behalf. Giving up your rights voluntarily is just what they want you to do. But what was gained by the French revolution and the european renaissance can not be taken away from us neither by force nor "voluntarily".