Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

The Evolving Social Contract: From Common Good to Contemporary Practice

The Evolving Social Contract: From Common Good to Contemporary Practice

An illustration of hands putting together a puzzle.

Getty Images, cienpies

The concept of the common good in American society has undergone a remarkable transformation since the nation's founding. What began as a clear, if contested, vision of collective welfare has splintered into something far more complex and individualistic. This shift reflects changing times and a fundamental reimagining of what we owe each other as citizens and human beings.

The nation’s progenitors wrestled with this very question. They drew heavily from Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who saw the social contract as a sacred covenant between citizens and their government. But they also pulled from deeper wells—the Puritan concept of the covenant community, the classical Republican tradition of civic virtue, and the Christian ideal of serving one's neighbor. These threads wove into something uniquely American: a vision of the common good that balances individual liberty with collective responsibility.


Early American communities understood this balance intimately. Take the New England town meeting, where citizens gathered to vote and deliberate on what served the community's needs. Or consider the barn-raising tradition of the frontier, where neighbors came together to help each other survive and thrive. These weren't just practical arrangements—they reflected a more profound understanding that individual flourishing depended on community well-being.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

But something changed along the way. The Industrial Revolution brought unprecedented wealth and mobility, but it also began to fray the bonds of local communities. Mass production and urbanization created new forms of anonymity. The rise of corporate power introduced new tensions between private profit and public good. By the early 20th century, the intimate connection between individual and community started to strain.

The post-World War II era accelerated these changes dramatically. The GI Bill and suburban expansion created new patterns of living that emphasized private space over public gatherings. Television brought the world into our living rooms but reduced face-to-face interaction. The rise of consumer culture shifted focus from citizen to customer, from participant to spectator. The common good became less like a shared project and more like a zero-sum game.

However, we find ourselves in a peculiar position. There are more ways to connect, yet many feel profoundly disconnected. There is accessibility to more information about social problems, yet we often feel powerless to address them. We speak of "community" constantly but struggle to define what that means in practice.

Our contemporary understanding of the social contract has become increasingly transactional. Many view it primarily through an economic lens—taxes paid for services rendered. Others see it through a regulatory framework—rules we follow to maintain order. Still, others question whether any meaningful social contract exists, pointing to persistent inequalities and broken promises.

This shift has profound implications for how we approach collective challenges. Consider our response to the climate crisis. The founders' generation might have seen this as a straightforward matter of common good, requiring collective action. Now, we debate whether individual conveniences should be sacrificed for collective benefit. Or look at public health. What was once understood as a shared responsibility has become highly politicized, with personal rights often pitted against community welfare.

Theological dimensions of this transformation are equally striking. Traditional religious understandings of covenant and community have not disappeared but they compete with newer theologies that emphasize individual salvation and prosperity. The biblical command to "love thy neighbor" now contends with interpretations prioritizing personal freedom over collective responsibility.

Yet, signs of renewal exist. Local movements for environmental justice, mutual aid networks, and community organizing efforts suggest an emerging reconnection of the common good. These initiatives often blend traditional understanding of collective welfare with contemporary needs and tools. They recognize that while the forms of community may change, the fundamental human need for connection and shared purpose remains constant.

A way forward requires neither a wholesale return to past models nor a complete embrace of individualistic modernity. Instead, we need a thoughtful synthesis that preserves the best of both. This means recovering specific traditional insights about human interdependence while acknowledging the reality of contemporary pluralism and complexity.

No one should ever assume that the common good is opposed to individual flourishing; rather, it is essential to such. Our founding agents understood this—liberty without responsibility becomes mere license. Second, we must rebuild deliberation and collective decision-making practices, adapting traditional forms like the town meeting to contemporary contexts. Finally, we must develop new narratives of shared purpose that speak to our time while drawing on enduring wisdom.

Inherently, a social contract is a sociopolitical arrangement and a moral vision, expressing our deepest beliefs about what we owe each other and why. As we face excessive challenges—from geopolitical instability, economic inequality, and technological disruption—recovering and renewing this vision becomes increasingly urgent.

The Founders saw these as mutually reinforcing rather than opposing forces. Their most incredible wisdom lay not in specific solutions but in this fundamental insight: that the self-government project requires individual virtue and collective commitment. It is important to remember that the social contract is not a static document but a living tradition that each generation must renew. It is a task not to replicate the past but to carry its essential hopes into new contexts. Thus, our flourishing remains inextricably connected to the common good.

Rev. Dr. F. Willis Johnson is a spiritual entrepreneur, author, and scholar-practitioner whose leadership and strategies around social and racial justice issues are nationally recognized and applied.

Read More

Bridgebuilding Effectiveness

Hands together in unison.

Getty Images, VioletaStoimenova

Bridgebuilding Effectiveness

In a time of deep polarization and democratic fragility, bridgebuilding has become a go-to approach for fostering civic cohesion in the U.S. Yet questions persist: Does it work? And how do we know?

With declining trust, rising partisanship, and even political violence, many are asking what the role of dialogue might be in meeting democracy’s demands. The urgency is real—and so is the need for more strategic, evidence-based approaches.

Keep ReadingShow less
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same
a red hat that reads make america great again

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

Recently, while listening to a podcast, I came across the term “reprise” in the context of music and theater. A reprise is a repeated element in a performance—a song or scene returning to reinforce themes or emotions introduced earlier. In a play or film, a familiar melody might reappear, reminding the audience of a previous moment and deepening its significance.

That idea got me thinking about how reprise might apply to the events shaping our lives today. It’s easy to believe that the times we are living through are entirely unprecedented—that the chaos and uncertainty we experience are unlike anything before. Yet, reflecting on the nature of a reprise, I began to reconsider. Perhaps history does not simply move forward in a straight line; rather, it cycles back, echoing familiar themes in new forms.

Keep ReadingShow less
Following Jefferson: Promoting Intergenerational Understanding Through Constitution-Making

An illustration depicting the U.S. Constitution and Government.

Getty Images, Douglas Rissing

Following Jefferson: Promoting Intergenerational Understanding Through Constitution-Making

Towards the end of his life, Thomas Jefferson became fatalistic. The prince and poet of the American Revolution brooded—about the future of the country he birthed, to be sure; but also about his health, his finances, his farm, his family, and, perhaps most poignantly, his legacy. “[W]hen all our faculties have left…” he wrote to John Adams in 1822, “[when] every avenue of pleasing sensation is closed, and athumy, debility, and malaise [is] left in their places, when the friends of our youth are all gone, and a generation is risen around us whom we know not, is death an evil?”

The question was rhetorical, of course. But it revealed something about his character. Jefferson was aware that Adams and he—the “North and South poles of the Revolution”—were practically the only survivors of the Revolutionary era, and that a new generation was now in charge of America’s destiny.

Keep ReadingShow less
Defining the Democracy Movement: Francis Johnson
- YouTube

Defining the Democracy Movement: Francis Johnson

The Fulcrum presents The Path Forward: Defining the Democracy Reform Movement. Scott Warren's interview series engages diverse thought leaders to elevate the conversation about building a thriving and healthy democratic republic that fulfills its potential as a national social and political game-changer. This initiative is the start of focused collaborations and dialogue led by The Bridge Alliance and The Fulcrum teams to help the movement find a path forward.

The latest interview of this series took place with Francis Johnson, the founding partner of Communications Resources, a public affairs organization, and the former President of Take Back Our Republic. This non-partisan organization advocates for conservative solutions to campaign finance reform. A veteran of Republican politics, Francis has been at the forefront of structural reform efforts, including initiatives like ranked-choice voting.

Keep ReadingShow less