Relevance of John Locke's ideology in American politics

John Locke and Thomas Hobbes: A comparison

In their respective manner, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke had different views of what basic humanity and the methods of running a government should be. Within American politics, the influence of both their philosophies is prominent. However, the ideology of John Locke holds a higher level of relevance in the current time while also having a significant impact on the human rights of the population (Locke,2016). The following work focuses on understanding his philosophy and its utilisation in the current time of national politics. The work will also analyse being more agreeable with John Locke's point of view or Thomas Hobbes's point of view by focusing on presenting one current situation and imagining how the following situation would enter their respective philosophy.

John Locke is often referred to as the father of liberalism. His idea of liberal thoughts focused on ideas of natural law and social contract, religious toleration and the right to revolution. His focus when the rights of Kings and Queens were given priority of holding the ultimate power focused and argued that all people are in doubt with natural rights to life, liberty, and property (Seliger,2019). One of his most prominent statements were that the people should remove rulers who fail to protect those right by force is necessary. In the current Modern era, all the policies and ideologies he held were considered the foundation is leading to his Democratic society. On the other hand, Thomas Hobbes believed that the only true and correct form of government was utilising absolute monarchy.

A prominent example of a situation that has happened today around the national government that can help understand which specific ideology among these both thinkers are more relevant in American politics. In the second term of the presidential election, Donald Trump again became the representative who wished to become the leader and the president of the country. The general public's opinion stopped him with the experiences they could gain from the first 5 years when he was in office as the president. Finally, it came upon the people to choose the right representative (McKay,2021). This, in its way, is the best example to show how John Locke and his philosophy are still relevant. In this case, which was followed by the general public, John Locke and his ideology give away a rise to the choice of making Joey Biden the new president of the country, who can also be changed after his term as the president is finished. On the other hand, if the situation were similar to the point of view of Thomas Hobbes, there would have been chances that if Trump had the opportunity to lead the country, he would have continued doing so even if the general public did not want him to be (Hobbes & Missner,2016).

One can analyse how different the country's situation would have been if both philosophies did not coexist while one remained dominant. The power and the domination that Hobbes believe that government should have is also essential for the power of commanding, while the Liberty that Locke believes should also stay integral.

References

Hobbes, T., & Missner, M. (2016). Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan (Longman Library of Primary Sources in Philosophy). Routledge.https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315507613/thomas-hobbes-leviathan-longman-library-primary-sources-philosophy-thomas-hobbes-marshall-missner

Locke, J. (2016). 19. The Second Treatise of Government. In Democracy (pp. 120-123). Columbia University Press.

https://www.degruyter.com/document

/doi/10.7312/blau17412-025/html

McKay, D. (2021). American politics and society. John Wiley & Sons.

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&i

d=HvdLEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR12&dq=america

n+politics&ots=EImdcZ5zS6&sig=1a4gpLFFK6ipIErOiODnkeOV-vk

Seliger, M. (2019). The liberal politics of John Locke. Routledge.

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4LqmdwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT14&dq=john+locke&ots=ft1y4A-Snw&sig=9