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A Pearl of Wisdom from John Locke
July 15, 2010
Lately, I have been reading John Locke’s “A Letter Concerning Toleration.” In it, he makes the case for religious freedom in a free society, specifically targeted at the interdenominational fighting happening amongst Christians in England during his lifetime. Now, Locke’s commitment to freedom of religion, like his adherence to the pursuit of liberty in general, is palpable as one reads this document. However, in the course of his exposition of philosophical truths validating religious freedom and tolerance, he intersperses a few crucial truths about the duty of government in general.
I was set on an entirely new train of thought after reading the following statement, and I expect that you probably will be as well. Locke writes, “The public good is the rule and measure of all lawmaking. If a thing be not useful to the commonwealth, though it be ever so indifferent, it may not presently be established by law.”
Now, it is important to know that whenever Locke uses the terminology of “may” or “may not” in any of his works, he is usually speaking in the realm of natural rights, or rights that are given by God and may not be usurped. Knowing this, we can interpret this statement to mean that when the government passes laws that are not “useful to the commonwealth,” it violates the natural, God-given rights of its citizens. Moreover, knowing that our Declaration of Independence states that our government was established to preserve our rights, thus doing the will of God, it violates His will when it takes action that is not “useful.”
How many times have we seen this government pass laws that are not useful to us? How many taxes have been levied or raised, causing us hardship? How many regulations have been passed, within or outside of legislative action, that have done harm to the ease of our lives or the welfare of our businesses? In the past year, five years, decade, century?
We tend to blame our politicians for making our lives harder, making bad decisions, and jeopardizing our security, and rightly so. However, I implore you to remember that we have been given rights by God to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and what is given to us by our Creator, no earthly power can take away. If a law does not benefit the American people, if it is not “useful to the commonwealth,” then our government has not only failed its mission, but it has betrayed the very people it exists to protect.
This is all you need to hear. You know it to be true, and you know that this upcoming election is a referendum on politics-as-usual, the kind that has passed harmful, useless laws that degrade our commonwealth and our well-being. And it is the knowledge that there is an element of the Divine in our efforts that should spur us on even further – the knowledge that by giving of our time and talent to make a difference this November, we are preserving our God-given right to liberty and a government that is useful to us, not harmful.
Excellent post, Eric! Locke’s statements are profound and you have done well by reminding us the ultimate source of our rights. Encouraging and thought-provoking!
Natural rights are a load of posh. Your rights are granted to you by your society/culture/government. Where were the natural rights before the enlightenment? If your government decides tomorrow that you will become chattel for another, your “natural right” to liberty (or more accurately, privilege) will have been taken away. Government and society create the rights we use and we defend them post hoc.
Also, just as importantly, where in the bible or other holy text does it explicitly state these natural rights? And which ones are they? Before life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness it was life, liberty, and property.
@An Atheist:
Thanks for taking the time to give some feedback. While I disagree with your premise that our rights originate with our government, I believe it is important to think critically about them. Personally, I take no comfort in the idea of a government, inherently composed of fallible people, being the ultimate guarantor of my rights (or, as you prefer to refer to them, “privileges”). If you are content to deny any absolute rights fundamental to our humanity and instead let the buck stop with government, then you have far more trust in the good nature of humans than I. However, I urge you to take a brief look at any era of human history and see that people are capable of atrocious violations of any and all rights, fundamental or not. The difference between those who believe in natural rights and those who don’t is that we, the natural rights “crowd,” believe that violators of those rights will be ultimately accountable to God. This is what we mean when we say that natural rights “cannot be taken away.” In truth, natural rights are taken away every day. However, according to absolute moral standards set in place by God, no person who deprives another of these rights can stand before his Creator with a clear conscience.
As for the Biblical origins of our rights listed in the Declaration, I point you to none other than Jesus Christ. He, being the earthly incarnation of God, was a giver of life earthly and eternal, signifying that God cares about life, and that each individual life is ordained by Him and precious to Him. For liberty, Christ repeatedly stressed to His followers that his mission was to set captives free, specifically from slavery to sin. After all, it was Jesus who first said, “the truth shall set you free.” For the pursuit of happiness, I remind you that Jesus, in His own words, “Came that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Quality of life matters to God, and that sounds to me like the pursuit of happiness.
Now, these are my personal views, and you are free to disagree with them. However, know that in doing so, you give full control over your liberty to our government in all of its fallibility, corruption, and irresponsibility, with no accountability to any higher authority. To me, that is a chilling thought. I will close by reminding you that our founding fathers (some deist and others Christian) founded our great nation on natural rights, instituting a government accountable to the people and to God to preserve those rights. If you think this concept preposterous, then I’m afraid you will have to reconcile with them.