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Contributors
Gary M. Galles - Contributor
Mr. Galles
is a professor of economics at Pepperdine University. [go
to Galles index]
 A
Foundation for America
John Locke’s legacy for us…
[Gary M. Galles] 12/31/04
Before the
calendar turns to a new year, Americans should remember a tricentennial.
It is 300 years since the death of John Locke, without whom
the seminal expression of what America stands for--the Declaration
of Independence--would not exist as we know it. Locke’s
1689 Second Treatise on Government was the origin of so much
of the reasoning and language in our founding document that
Thomas Jefferson was accused of plagiarizing from him. The
Declaration reflects his concepts of natural law; equal, inalienable
rights; consent of the governed; and strictly limited government.
Natural
Law
“...all
men are naturally in...a state of perfect freedom to order
their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons,
as they see fit...without asking leave, or depending upon
the will of any other man.”
“ ...every man has a property in his own person: this no body has any right
to but himself.”
“But though this be a state of liberty, yet it is not a state of license...being
all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health,
liberty, or possessions.”
“ ...the end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and
enlarge freedom...for liberty is to be free from restraint and violence from
others...”
Equal,
Inalienable Rights
“...all
men by nature are equal...that equal right, that every man
hath, to his natural freedom, without being subjected to
the will or authority of any other man.”
“ ...no body can desire to have me in his absolute power, unless it be
to compel me by force to that which is against the right of my freedom...”
“ ...the power of the society, or legislative constituted by them, can
never be supposed to extend farther than the common good; but is obliged to secure
every man=s property...”
“ ...no body has an absolute arbitrary power...to take away the life or
property of another...Their power, in the utmost bounds of it, is limited to
the public good of the society.”
“ The legislative acts against the trust reposed in them, when they endeavor
to invade the property of the subject, and to make themselves, or any part of
the community, masters, or arbitrary disposers of the lives, liberties, or fortunes
of the people.”
Consent
of the Governed
“Political
power...has its original only from…the mutual consent
of those who make up the community.”
“ ...that which is absolutely necessary to...law--the consent of the society,
over whom no body can have a power to make laws, but by their own consent...”
“ The supreme power cannot take from any man any part of his property without
his own consent: for the preservation of property being the end of government,
and that for which men enter society...”
“ ...if any one shall claim a power to lay and levy taxes on the people,
by his own authority, and without such consent of the people, he thereby invades
the fundamental law of property, and subverts the end of government...”
Strictly
Limited Government
“…man...is
willing to join in society with others...for the mutual preservation
of their lives, liberties and estates, which I call by their
general name, property. The great and chief end, therefore,
of men=s uniting...under government, is the preservation
of their property.”
“ ...all the power of government...being only for the good of the society...ought
to be exercised by established and promulgated laws; that both the people may
know their duty, and be safe and secure within the limits of the law; and the
rulers too kept within their bounds...”
“ Political power...can have no other end...but to preserve the members
of that society in their lives, liberties, and possessions; and so cannot be
an absolute, arbitrary power over their lives and fortunes, which are as much
as possible to be preserved...”
John Locke,
though English, qualifies as one of America=s greatest patriots,
because he was one of the greatest sources of the vision that
inspired our founders. His ideas are no less worthy of consideration
and celebration 300 years after his death, in an America that
now only fitfully reflects that vision. tOR
copyright
2004 Gary M. Galles
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