[timroy]

Contract enforcement is a government activity, though. To enforce a contract, you ask the government (via the courts) to force the other party to give you assets, or not to work somewhere, etc.

By the same reasoning, if I sue you for defamation for calling me a lamebrained chucklehead, courts refuse to entertain the suit because the government won't restrict free speech. You're entitled to express your opinion, and the government won't assist me in suppressing your speech.

In many states, the government is happy to assist employers in restricting job-hopping.

I take your point that this government activity has its immediate catalyst in private actions in the free market, and that's different in important ways from other government activity. But still.

[oconnor663]

Consent on both sides is an important difference. It's not everything, but maybe important enough that it's misleading to talk around it.

[x5n1]

Consent under coercion which most work contracts are implicitly, else how are you going to pay for your living expenses, by necessity require government intervention.

[icebraining]

Under that point of view, seems like the government should instead prohibit work contracts themselves, therefore eliminating such coercion.

[x5n1]

You can not eliminate this source of coercion without for instance giving people free living wage. Eliminating such contracts would not eliminate the coercion but make it worse. Maybe not as bad a contract, because people can still walk away, but still could end badly.

[icebraining]

Who would be coercing whom if work contracts were eliminated?

[x5n1]

The natural state of mammals on this planet is hunter gatherers. Hunter gatherers don't have any way of storing food, so they take only as much as they need. They are under constant coercion by their environment. So I guess the environment is coercing, whether that's nature or it's society. There is a way to get the basic resources for survival. For hunter gatherers they may go out at any time and if food is available they can hunt it. In society, there is no way to get that unless there is some form of contract or agreement for some resources in return for work.

[timroy]

Just saw your reply below, so I'll just pretend you've posted the same reply here. ;-)