Eaxctly - there must be a cost, a real one, for something to have value.

And since partaking in society is an act of both wielding power and of solidarity with the greater whole and the individuals that make it up, that act of payment must be voluntary, for us to ascribe said value.

One thing I noticed when I was still in pol-sci was the utter abhorrence 99% of all academics in that field has for such ideas; that anything but class backgrund and social malleability/manipulativeness would decide rights, privileges and freedoms.