AP US Government Assignment

Best System-Locke


John Locke’s form of government would both be legitimate as well as beneficial to the masses through its use of a select group of representatives. Much like how the United States government in the late seventeen-hundreds functioned, Locke proposed that an elite class would represent the masses in their best interests. This, in my opinion, was a very good system at the time that it was used. By having the educated represent the people as a whole, Locke’s form of government, would in perfection, provide for the voice of the people. Those, in any society, who don’t know about the issues facing them, are more likely to make poor decisions and in the early days of America, where this type of representation took place, not everyone had the chance at an education. Only those individuals who had wealth could afford to learn about issues and rules dealing with governments. Today Locke’s ideas could work effectively because we would have leaders who understand government rather than those who have no clue as to how our country should work. John Locke’s from of government, a true republic, would be the best of the four political theories we have discussed in class based on my current knowledge.


Locke vs. Rousseau

John Locke, an English enlightenment figure, and Jean Jacques Rousseau, a French philosopher, have ideas that have similarities as well as differences. With Locke and Rousseau the underlying ideas for their forms of government are similar in the fact that the power is meant to go to the people. However, in a republic, like with Locke, the people vote for others to represent them while with Rousseau’s true democracy the people vote on every issue and are in essence part of legislature. With Locke, government ideally runs better because of the fact that it doesn’t become a popularity contest on every issue. Also because everyone can vote on every issue, a pure democracy has no stability as it is more a government of whim than principals. In a pure democracy, government is not stable and can change depending on immediate feelings rather than previously established laws. In contrast of a republic a democracy turns political decisions into more of an American Idol contest. Locke and Rousseau both had political ideas that reflected a need for the people to be in charge, but they differ in their methods.