“Burke saw the social contract as an intricate web of shared associations, “a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.” Thomas Paine retorted, “Mr. Burke is contending for the authority of the dead over the rights and freedom of the living. … As government is for the living and not for the dead, it is the living only that has any right in it.” Damrosch, Leo. The Club (Kindle Locations 3061-3063). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition. Damrosch, Leo. The Club (Kindle Locations 3059-3061). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition. ”

— Burke’s social contract includes the living and the dead