Hobbes vs. Locke

Thomas Hobbes:

• People are basically evil.
• Because of that, God puts kings in power to keep order.
• We need someone in authority to settle religious disagreements for us.
• In order to function properly, a society needs a religious framework everybody can agree on.

John Locke:

• People are basically good.
• Because of that, governments only have the right to exist when good people allow them to.
  
• When a Christian is in power, he should tolerate those who disagree with him, because some day someone else will be in power.
• In order to function properly, society needs to trust its members to be good and do good and only put as many limits on freedom as are necessary to protect the freedom of others.

Thomas Jefferson:

• "The Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle [people] to separate and equal station . . . among the powers of the Earth." -- People are basically good, but have a Creator they are accountable to for that goodness.
• "We hold these truths to be self-evident" -- There are truths that are beyond dispute.
• "All men are Created" -- Whether through the people or through kings, ultimately all government derives from God.
• "Equal" -- Either we're as good as the king, or the king is as bad as the rest of us.
• "They are endowed by their Creator" -- See above
• "Unalienable rights" -- The rights of the people to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness supersede the right of the king to be in power, even if that right also came from God.
• If the evils of the king can be tolerated, they should be. Don't change a government just because you disagree on a point of opinion that doesn't measurably impact your life.
• If the evils of a king actually hurt people, the people have both the right and the duty to throw him out.
• "We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity" -- We want to trust that the British government is made of good people, but the evidence is to the contrary.

There are hints of both Hobbes and Locke in the Declaration of Independence. Here are some discussion questions:

1. Since Locke and Hobbes are virtual opposites, do you have to take one side or the other, or can you blend them together?
2. Can you have an orderly society if agents of the state inject their religious opinions into their duties? Can you have an orderly society if they don't?
3. Does government exist to create an environment to let good people do as much good as they can, or is its primary purpose to stop people from being evil? And can a government ever fight evil if it is made of evil people?