What is the family? The family is considered by most people to be a network of people connected by blood. It is also an intricate system of government with laws in which each member plays a special role and has to uphold the requirements of that role. Rousseau considers the family to be the oldest and only natural form of government. This analogy regards the family as the foundation of all political associations. By analogy, the ruler is the father and the children are the people. They both follow some of the same basic concepts of life. Certain laws are used to the advantage of the "children" and "people" used in the analogy. Political associations and family have a difference even though one was based on the other. The difference between each party is in their rewards. This difference fails to show its significance in its relation to the natural form of government.
I believe this analogy to be useful and its contentions to be true to a certain extent. The analogy clearly identifies the similarities of political associations and the family. It states that the family has specific laws that it must follow. Self-preservation is one of the laws that a family follows. This law explains the responsibility a child no longer owes to his father and the responsibility the father no longer owes to his children. It shows how an equal independence is gained between the father and his children. Children are no longer obligated to rely on their father for support. The father is somewhat cleared of his .
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fatherly duties. The bond between them is not fully severed. The bond is no longer imposed by nature but is simply a matter of choice. Moreover, the family is still .
following its basic laws. The rulers of various political associations have rulers who by analogy are the fathers and their people are the children. The people have a need for self-preservation just as children do in families.