How does one become a member of the body politic?
U.S. v. Esparza-Mendoza, 265 F. Supp. 2d 1254 (May 29, 2003)
". . . the age would have been articulated most prominently by political philosopher John Locke. [FN56] Locke conceived of government as a social compact in which formerly free individuals voluntarily united to establish communities. [FN 57] ... be liable to such limitations as are necessary for the security of the absolute rights of the later." [FN 59] The social compact view is perhaps most famously echoed in the Declaration of Independence, which declared that
'governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.' . . . people of that state proclaimed directly: 'the body politic is formed by a voluntary associationof individuals: it is asocial compact, by which the whole people covenants with each citizen, and each citizen with the whole people, that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good.'
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