According to his principle of the social contract, Locke argued that the government lacked authority in the realm of individual conscience, as this was something rational people could not cede to the government for it or others to control.
For Locke, this created a natural right in the liberty of conscience, which he argued must therefore remain protected from any government authority. These views on religious tolerance and the importance of individual conscience, along with his social contract, became particularly influential in the American colonies and the drafting of the United States Constitution.
Philosophically, I argue, the United States is going against the grain upon which it was founded.
Have we ceded, irrationally, too much of our individual conscience to the state?
Sadly, I think you are right. The US is trying to become something it was never meant to be. Many of us (unfortunately, not the majority) are unhappy about it.
ReplyDeleteI think the enabling feature of welfarism is the ultimate drug and aphrodisiac.
ReplyDeleteIf you get a welfare cheque, do you really give a rat's ass about things like 'broken window fallacies' and 'economic deficits' and the like?
Of course not. Democrats know it's all a shell game but figured that's where the votes reside and are milking it for all it's worth. That makes them WORSE than Republicans in my view. They prey on the weak. They don't really help them.
Just my impression. I could be wrong. Maybe someone can come along from their ranks to set me straight.