In The Second Treatise of Government, Locke defines political power, discusses the inalienable birth-rights of man, and the need for both in the formation of a legitimate government. John Locke’s The Second Treatise of Government defines a legitimate government in relation to the protection of inalienable rights. He views a valid government as one which upholds his three main natural laws of life, liberty and property. In defining political power, Locke insists that it is proper to make laws “for the regulating and preserving of property,” and adds, that if necessary, “the execution of such laws, and in the defense of the common-wealth [sic] from foreign injury.” This is needed “for the public good.” (Locke, Sec.
III) Defined, Locke’s political power is the ability to uphold a constitution. Locke’s reasoning for the creation of a government arises in the need to protect life, liberty and justice. Locke concludes that “the reason why men enter into society, is the preservation of their property; and the end why they choose and authorize a legislative,” but adds that the citizens “have a right to resume their original liberty… by the establishment of a new legislative” (Locke, Sec. CC XXI) when those rights are threatened. The protection of life, liberty and justice then becomes the reason for a “new legislative.” The value Locke places on property is only furthered in his discussion of the will of the populace.
The Essay on Government Bureaucratic Half Witted Laws
Governement's Bureaucratic Half-Witted Laws Todays big government is a typical display of bureaucracy in its most creative state. Due to the enormous bureaucracy within today's state governments, many laws have been passed through legislation that really didn't need to be passed. These laws are a display of the way government likes to show power over the people using legal suppression. Governments ...
Locke discusses in his chapter Of the Beginning of Political Societies the effect which the majority has on the betterment of the community:” For when any number of Men have, by the consent of every individual, made a Community, the have thereby made that Community one Body, with a Power to Act as one Body, which is only by the will and determination of the majority” (Locke, Sec. 96) Locke’s discussion here displays that men are not only inclined to create states to protect their property, but also to better it through a combined effort of the majority. The reason for a state is then nuanced to allow for advancement as a society. Communities form to accomplish more as a collective unit, rather than as an individual person who would be less effective in both property protection and advancement.
