I have heard it said that the only model of democracy that worked was that of Ancient Greece so I'm reading Plato's "Republic" to find out precisely where modern democracy differs from the original model . . . but one thing I am certain of - any form of government will eventually fail because far more humans are prone to short-sighted greed and corruption than far-sighted altruism. As there is always a large section of any society who are just plain apathetic; ignorant (whether because the elite ensures their education includes revised history but not civics, obedience rather than initiative and acceptance of the status quo, the corrupt are always able to manipulate a majority, so that selfishness rules and to hell with our childrens' inheritance.
Greed is not good but heaven forbid anyone should get off their arses and feed pesticide to the parasites!

I think laws are made to hold us back and try to keep us safe.they dont want anyone getting to important to overthrow the goverment but they want to keep the people safe so they can keep charging us for their protection my opinion

Who's Marcus? Anyway...

I believe you are referring to social contract theory, different variations of which were proposed by men like Locke (whose theories provided the foundation for American government), Rousseau, and Hobbes.

Locke's basic argument as regards the social contract is that we as individuals give up our right to "play judge, jury and executioner" in order that we as a society may enjoy a level of stability, equality before a codified law, and a sense of certainty. We put these concerns in the hands of a government so that we may be "free" to enjoy our lives with less worry.

As I understand it, oh, and I wish I could remember it, when the ideas of liberty and freedom were being fought for in the revolutionary wars of france and britian, there were many philosophers that exclaimed their views on this, and I happen to agree with some of them. Now, understanding that I do not fully recolect the information, I will give it to you in sums, instead of the actual names.

We give up certain rights in able to keep others. That is what our constitution is based off of (USA). These are the ideas that were brought across that big river, and surfaced into our little shin dig we called convention.

Long post short, I believe that both sides are applicable to the answer. We retain certain rights by sacrificing the liberty to do something. And Marcus there has a point, the only reason we have laws is to protect us against our selves.

The purpose of any law, and of any government, is the restriction of individual freedom.

Governments are established and laws codified for no other reason than protecting us from ourselves.