Locke or Hobbes: Whose ideas would be most useful today?

  •  John Locke’s ideas would be the most useful today. 
  • John Locke believed that our natural rights, life, liberty, and property could not be stripped away or given up. He went against Hobbes, who believed that the people laid down their natural rights and gave absolute power to a sovereign. 
  • The government cannot take people’s rights away, or else it would lead to chaos. With Thomas Hobbes, he believed once the people had given absolute power to the king, they had no right to revolt against him. This would lead to a place such as North Korea, where communism is the country’s form of government, an infamous system in many parts of the world.
  • If every country in the world followed John Locke’s ways, they would have a more peaceful and thriving society, with happy citizens. If the world followed Thomas Hobbes’ ways, however, we would be backtracking and living in a world of oppression and inequality.   
  • John Locke favored a representative government. Where the citizens elect those who represent their interests and concerns. Those elected then meet up to debate and create laws on behalf of the whole community. Locke believed that a division of power was necessary, which is an idea that most of modern society accepts. 
  • The idea of a representative government is seen in the US. The people of the US elects its president, members of Congress, and local and state officials. If a world superpower is able to perform so well with Locke’s way of thinking, preventing the government from ever abusing its power, then it should be adopted by every other country.
  • Meanwhile, Thomas Hobbes believed putting all the power in the hands of a king would equal to more resolute and consistent exercise of political authority. However, in today’s time, a king would not last very long as the head of a government. Eventually, the people would grow tired of the king, overthrow him, and set up a new government.
  • Locke had ideas to be used by future generations, while Hobbes had ideas that would never survive modern society.
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