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If We Lose John Locke, We Lose America

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Most of us learned the key ideas of the Declaration of Independence in school: that “all men are created equal,” “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” that government’s job is “to secure these rights.” This was a radical departure from the way things had always been. Where did these revolutionary ideas come from? Ben Shapiro explains in this illuminating video.

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Script:

When John Adams and Benjamin Franklin read Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence, they undoubtedly recognized two things: Jefferson’s peerless prose, and the political wisdom of the 17th-century English thinker, John Locke.

We still admire Jefferson’s skill as a writer. But we have lost an appreciation for Jefferson’s philosophical mentor.

John Locke was born in 1632 in a small village in Somerset, England. He studied at Oxford to be a physician but achieved fame as a political theorist.

In 1690, he authored one of the most famous political tracts in history, Two Treatises of Government. England had just gone through a period of great political turmoil, the so-called “Glorious Revolution” of 1688 in which the Catholic king, James II, was overthrown and replaced by a Protestant one, William of Orange.

The purpose of that revolution, which Locke supported, was not merely to substitute one king for another, but to move power away from the monarch and place it in the hands of the people and their elected representatives. The “laws and liberties of this kingdom,” in Locke’s view, belonged to its citizens.

This was, of course, how the American rebels saw their relationship with England. The Americans had no say in laws that the English crown and parliament were forcing on them. And—to put it mildly—they didn’t like it. “No taxation without representation” was a classic expression of their displeasure.

But how to frame the argument so that the whole world would understand it? Jefferson looked to Locke for inspiration and guidance.

And using Locke helped in another way: How better, Jefferson calculated, to justify an American revolution than to use the arguments that were once used to justify an English one?

So what were those arguments? Locke posited three.

First: All men are created equal. Second: Certain basic rights exist independent of government. Third: Government exists to protect those rights.

Let’s take them in turn.

Number one: All men are created equal.

Locke starts this argument at a very basic level—namely, that human beings were created equal by God. We’re all part of the same species. We’re all capable of doing human things. In that sense, we are equal—not in qualities or outcome, but in rights. As John Locke wrote, “Creatures of the same species…born to all the same advantages of nature, and the use of the same faculties, should also be equal…without subordination or subjection.”

In this way, a king is in no way superior to a commoner such that he might violate the commoner’s rights. The king is a human being. The commoner is a human being. Each can reason. Therefore, one is equal to the other. We take this for granted now, but in 1690 it was a radical notion.

Number two: Certain basic rights exist independent of government.

Locke believed that it was man’s natural state to be free. Therefore, freedom pre-exists government. That is, freedom came first; government came later. One hears this thinking expressed in Jefferson’s famous phrase, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”

Here’s how Locke put it: “The natural [state] of man is to be free from any superior power on earth. And not to be under the will or legislative authority [of a government] …”

As rational human beings, Locke contended, we have the liberty—whether king or commoner— to think and act as we wish so long as we harm no one else.

Number three: Government exists to protect those rights.

For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/if-we-lose-john-locke-we-lose-america

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48 Comments

  9. 4:10 YEAH, WELL WHT ABT PRIVATE COMPANIES? WALMART HAS AN EFFECTIVELY STATE-CONTROLLED MARKET AND HOLDS A MONOPOLY FOR PROVIDING THEIR SERVICES IN MANY AREAS. THEY ACTIVELY CRUSH LOCAL COMPETITION TO ESTABLISH THEMSELVES, IS THAT NOT A COMPLETE ABUSE OF POWER? SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT, WHICH SERVES THE PEOPLE, NOT SEEK TO STOP THIS KIND OF THING?

  10. Thomas Jefferson was an enlightenment thinker, and although John Locke's body of work was extremely influential, it is by far not a "mentor" of Thomas Jefferson. Also, Thomas Jefferson is famous for not including property rights in his declaration of independence. People at the time and now still speculate that it might have been part of Jefferson's internal fight with himself about slavery.

  11. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Yes, classical liberalism advocated for equal rights among all ppl (not slaves though), but there's a reason it's not a popular philosophy anymore. Even liberals at the time recognised the requirement of the government restricting rights. There's two types of rights, the right to do something, and the right from something. Your freedom to swing your arm ends at my face. Which is why using liberalism as an argument for capitalism, gun rights, property rights, or really any right (see America's prison-industrial complex), is a completely stupid argument.

  16. Here is a small excerpt from an academic study on the non-racist views of the great John Locke : '' To Locke, in fact, the Native American could be equated with “one of those wild savage beasts with whom men can have no society nor security” and who “therefore may be destroyed as a lion or a tiger.” Locke thus provided a most potent ethical justification for racial genocide. ''
    Or, let's mention the sharp retorts Benjamin Franklin received from the English during a visit to the Kingdom : '' How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from the drivers of negroes ? '' – Samuel Johnson

  18. If this is what passes for the basis of conservative thought these days, then the contemporary right is an embarrassment compared to the right-wing that opposed the revolutions in the 17th to 18th centuries. The Age of the Enlightenment and its associated architects such as in John Locke is the antithesis of the classical and medieval worldview.

    If conservatives were genuinely traditional and right-wing, they would be more interested in one of his rival theorists and people of the counter-Enlightenment view such as in Robert Filmer or intellectual titans like Thomas Aquinas.

    It's no wonder conservatives succumb to their opposition so easily.

  22. I fear that it's already to late. Much of the wisdom that has helped keep this country on track has passed. While we have educated people like Ben, he the few like him are grossly out numbered. History though not in the same exact way, is beginning to repeat itself.

  26. To hell with that. John Locke is dead and gone. He barely even speaks any English spoken today. His thought process is barely perceptible and will never get any better. He may as well be a freshman at PragerU. Not valid as we have had our form of rule for nearly 250 years and have worked a lot of angles in our amendment process and need to do quite a few more. Such as remove the electoral college and start electing our president by popular vote. We recently cheated a woman out of being the first president because of it. We killed a lot of brits to free up our country from being ruled by a King of a third rate country in todays times. The senate is represented by about 10 or more states that combined don't have the population of Los Angles or New York City and that is not right. So crawl down off that high horse, Bennie squeaky voice and realize we need to fix this flawed system of government.

  27. Classical Liberalism: More variety of speech, more alternative in capitalism, protecting human rights and defending safety.

    Today's "Classic Liberal" Libertarians: Less speech to minority groups, more big corporation monopolies, restricting human rights and defendings gun worship.

  29. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness!!

  33. Contrary to what the Left / modern Liberals claim, Locke WAS NOT a deist. He was a theologian who helped expose unbiblical doctrines such as the lie that monarchs ruled by divine right. His philosophy along with Charles Montesquieu's were foundational to the Constitution. Whereas our founding fathers wisely heeded their sage wisdom the French DID NOT. The results speak for themselves…

  36. I am not a history expert, but from what I have read and understand, most kings claimed to be of "noble" or pure blood birthline. This means they thought they were in a bloodline that was destined to be king and most even felt they were appointed by God to be king because of how they traced their bloodline. Most of these kings had this confirmed by the ruling religious leaders and therefore "confirmed by God".
    These kings felt they were actually BETTER than the common man because they had pure bloodlines going back to other kings appointed by God. They were able to use this to convince powerful people to support them and uphold their power.

  42. I took two courses in political ideology in the mid-90s, when you had people on both sides of the spectrum proclaiming that ideology was dead and a new era of peace, a Pax-Americana described by some in dialectic terms as the end of history had arrived. Fortunately, I had a great professor who could break down ideology and its application brilliantly and could articulate conservative principles more effectively than anyone I have met before or since, and he was a card carrying democrat.

    We took our eye off the ball when The Wall came down and bought into the notion of a New World Order professed by Bush and his crowd. I warned people then that authoritarian governments may be waving white flags but their ideas haven't gone away. I was told my thinking was archaic in the early 2000s when I sided with authors such as Samuel Huntington who challenged the neocons view of the future. While we were complacent the commies did what commies do, they continued their long march through the institutions. Fast forward to 2021 and we are, to put it bluntly, f***ked. They flanked us while we got distracted with other stuff.

    Ask 100 college graduates who John Locke was and I'm sure 95 would either have no idea or they would think he was some cop involved in the slaying of an unarmed black man. There is an old adage that claims those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Well, those who don't know their history become what Lenin termed, useful idiots. We were warned. We just didn't want to believe authoritarianism could take root in our system because it wasn't in our collective DNA. To quote John McClain: "Welcome to the party pal."

  46. You're right, (conservative) America would be nothing without racism, and the idea that other races are inherently inferior.

    Really PragerU, this is the guy you're saying we should set up as a martyr? Oh wait, you did try to claim that we should celebrate the confederacy, a union of states which wanted to preserve the state right, to own slaves. You also did that video on why the British Empire, an institution which committed hundreds of genocides, famines, and atrocities was a good thing, the video being presented by a man who thinks Irish people are too barbaric to govern themselves. It isn't even a surprise at this point.