Protagoras answers Socrates by telling a parable of how, after the creation of man, human families lived solitary existences, and were in danger of being exterminated by the wild animals. Men then tried to secure their lives by building cities and towns, but these cities and towns were torn by strife because men had not yet learned to work together for a common goal. [In other words, they were libertarians]
Zeus, Lord of Olympus, fearing humanity's destruction, prepared to send Hermes, the messenger of the Gods, down with two gifts for humanity that would permit the art of politics to be practiced, so that man could live and work together in unity and amity within their towns and cities.
The first of these gifts was aidos (Î Î Î Î Ï') --a Greek word meaning both responsibility and the shame which accompanies our failure to fulfill our responsibility. This form of responsibility, both implicit and explicit, is one we have to ourselves and others.
The second of these gifts was dike (Î Î Î Î )--a Greek word which in this case means respect for the rights of others, including the right to have contrary opinions to your own. This includes listening to those opinions, rather than ignoring them because we believe them to be foolish or uninformed.
Hermes then turns to Zeus and asks, 'Should I deal out these gifts (the political Arts) as I have the rest of the Arts: All to some and none to others?' For when Hermes had given humanity the gifts of medicine, music, and the other Arts, he had given the gifts unequally to men, so that no craftsman was expert in all of the Arts.
Zeus told Hermes, 'No, give them equally to all men.' This is the reason, Protagoras concluded, that while the government of Athens relies on experts for specialized information, for matters of general political discourse, all men have been gifted equally by the gods, and all have an equal right to speak."
If we have the "gods' given gift" of rights as human beings, and our neighbors allow us to exercise these rights--if not without limits to protect themselves and others in society, then with a minimum of restrictions and requirements in their use--then we owe it to them to protect their rights as well. This quid pro quo cannot be properly accomplished on a short-term case by case basis, but must be proactive and continual in its application to all members of our society as a whole. The greatest weakness of the libertarians is in their often monomaniacal selfish concern for themselves, and their resulting lack of concern for the rest of society. There must be a quid pro quo between all of the members of society for the rights and privileges that the members of society enjoy. These rights and privileges are traditionally called the "Social Contract."
As I stated in my February 28, 2009 OpEdNews article " The Tao of Government ," "Legitimate [government] authority results from adherence to the boundaries, written or customary, explicit or implicit, of the state and its government's underlying social contract with the People. This social contract may take the form of a constitution, a set of written laws and legal decisions that form the basis for a consistent legal framework, a system of customs and oral traditions, or some combination of these three forms. Adherence to these boundaries allows the People of a nation to believe in the general benevolence and rightness of their government, which further strengthens the social contract. Thomas Jefferson summed it up perfectly in a l etter to his son-in law Edmund Randolph in 1799:
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