Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:<\/p>\n
\nI studied Government as a Pre-Law student.\u00a0 The classes were full of poseurs and weasels<\/span> w<\/span>hich is too bad, because it\u2019s actually a worthwhile subject:\u00a0 what is the purpose of government, what should it do, what should it avoid doing<\/span>?<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Rosseau thought mankind was basically good but was corrupted by the shackles of government and religion.\u00a0 Free us from the shackles and everyone would be happy and peaceful. He wanted people to form a social contract to choose their own laws in an elected aristocracy, like the city-states of ancient Greece or maybe Venice.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Hobbes thought mankind was totally self-interested which made them rotten to each other and only tamed by the shackles of government and religion.\u00a0 Free us from those shackles and life would be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.\u00a0 He wanted a strong, moral government with a religious basis, like English monarchy.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Mill thought government power should be limited to preventing harm to others.\u00a0 He wanted strictly a limited government doing nothing but keep the peace, a utilitarian government without any moral or religious basis for its laws.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Locke thought people had natural rights given by God which government ought to protect.\u00a0 He wanted morally-neutral limited government with broad religious toleration.\u00a0 That\u2019s the closest to the Founders\u2019 view, which was lost at least a century ago.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>How to know which is right?\u00a0 Divide society into experimental sections and say \u201cIn Utah, there will be vigorous religious-based law enforcement, in Baltimore, there will be value-neutral weak law enforcement\u201d and wait to see which prevails?\u00a0 The result would be devastating to people trapped in the failed experiment areas.<\/span><\/p>\n