plausible_agreements.md

plausible general principles governing valid agreements:

1. Valid consent requires a reasonable way of opting out.
2. Explicit dissent has precedence over alleged implicit consent.
3. An action can be taken as indicating agreement to some scheme only if one can be assumed to believe that if one did not take that action the scheme would not be imposed on the person.
4. Contractual obligation is mutual and conditional.

How does the relation between individuals and the state holds up against those principles?

1. No state has provided meaningful ways of opting out, means that do not require dissenters to assume large costs that the state has no independent right to impose.
2. All modern states in refusing to recognize explicit dissent render their relationships with the citizens non-voluntary.
3. Most accounts of implicit consent fail because nearly all citizens know that the government laws will be imposed upon them regardless of whether they perform a particular act by which they allegedly communicate consent.
4. If there was a social contract, in the cases where the government fails or denies to provide some of its alleged services under the contract would be enough to release the individuals from their obligations under that same contract.

The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey - https://amzn.to/30dRXTI