Comparison Of John Locke, Alexis De Tocqueville, And Karl Marx
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Tyranny of an oppressive and/or abusive government is a great threat to any political system. A tyrannical government allows no freedoms, and instills fear in its society, but three great thinkers have different ideas on how to prevent or handle the encroachment of tyranny and when. These three thinkers are John Locke, Alexis De Tocqueville, and Karl Marx. For Plato he has a way to end tyranny after it has taken over, Tocqueville has a preventative method, and Marx has an extreme method of reform. So what is the better way to handle the encroachment of tyranny, preventing it before it even starts? Or to do damage control after it has taken over?
John Locke’s plan for dealing with tyranny is to stop it after it has happened; he explains this in his writing The Second Treatise of Government. His method is for the people to overthrow the government after there has been abuse to the social contract. “But if a long train of abuses…’tis not to be wondered that they should then rouse themselves, and endeavor to put the rule into such hands which may secure to them the ends for which government was at first erected”(1). So this requires that multiple abuses have been made against the people and their natural rights. Everyone…show more content… They consent to allowing a government or person to be in power, but in return this government or leader must protect their natural rights, and if these natural rights are violated and not protected, the social contract is broken. The theory of overthrowing a government is great, but in reality it isn’t that easy. Trying to overthrow a government in general is hard enough, but add to the fact that it’s a tyrannical government will make it that much harder. The causalities from trying to overthrow it alone may be devastating. That’s why if you try to prevent the tyranny from occurring all together like Tocqueville, the society may be better