Essay Questions

According to “The Political Writings of John Locke,” does legitimacy require consent?

Because any structure of government is bound to serving people under it, there is only one decree that can establish the level of its legitimacy. For legitimacy to be achieved, the government must serve its people equally without discrimination. An administration that is just must be evident from government leaders at all levels. Therefore, legitimacy in governance is evident when the leaders respect the consent of the people that it rules. There is no way a government can be legitimate if there is no democracy in the election of its leaders. The absolute monarchy of Locke is undemocratic implying that his government is illegitimate.

Is Locke justified in his quote, “Wherever law ends, tyranny begins…”?

This is one of Locke’s eminent quotes, which portrays his trait of attacking totalitarianism. Locke is justified in this and perhaps this explains why most of the ancient American radical leaders and founding fathers found his quotes attractive. For instance, Jefferson is among the founding fathers of America who seem to have borrowed a lot from the leadership traits of Locke. Jefferson borrowed heavily from Locke’s tactics during the drafting of the US’s pronouncement of self-governance.

Give one example of how John Locke uses metaphor in his political writings.

The 'Of Conquest' title of one of his essays is itself metaphoric. The primary goal of the essay is to scrutinize and investigate the type of conquest of one part over the other taking into consideration factors such as supremacy, ascendancy, and constitutional rights. Of Conquest is metaphorically used to show Locke’s ability to foresee his eventual and honorable ending. He writes:

“Conquest is as far from setting up any government as demolishing a house is from building a new one in the place.”