John Locke Tyranny Analysis

John Locke, Alexis de Tocqueville and Karl Marx are theorist living in different time periods and in different countries and so their vision of how tyranny can come about differs. While they all can agree that tyranny infringes on freedom, they do not agree on the strategies for resistance. These thinkers foresaw abuses of authority and so each developed mechanisms to stop the abuse on power.

John Locke defines tyranny as “the exercise of power beyond right, which nobody can have the right to”, he further explains it as the ruler using his power, not for the good of the people but to his own private separate advantage (363). Locke sites a speech made by King James I, in which he states the clear difference between a lawful king and a tyrant. The lawful king procures the wealth and property of his people while a tyrant thinks “his kingdom and the people are only ordained for the satisfaction of his desires and unreasonable appetites” (363). By this Locke claims that monarchies, oligarchies and democracies alike can have tyrannical leaders, whether its one person ruling the state or a group of people. A group of individuals with enough power over people can use that power to “impoverish, harass, or subdue” the people. It is then that they have abused their power and become tyrannical. Locke sees this as the government being in a state of war against its people. Locke states that people are all born in the state of nature having absolute freedom within the bounds of the law of nature. In this state people begin acquiring property, but with no written law, people’s property becomes unsecure. People enter a civil society, where there is a legislative and an executive branch. The legislative’s duty is to create laws and the executive i...

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...re a better opposition to the majority. In an association people are politically involved and have their interests better served. Contrastingly, Marx believes in creating a new society and eliminating everything that oppressed the proletariat. In communism, a society is classes and all power, property and industries are in the hands of the state, leaving no room for oppression to a single class.

In conclusion, Locke, Tocqueville and Marx although living in different areas and differing in views, can agree that tyranny is something that cannot be tolerated in any society. These theorists recognize that tyranny has potential in any society and therefore each developed forms to resist oppression. Although their modes differ, it is clear in their writings that abusive power will eventually cease and become more evenly distributed to benefit the society as a whole.