Chapter 1 U.S. Government August 14, 2018 Two old, dead guys teach us why we need government: Locke, Hobbes, and the Social Contract Chapter 1 U.S. Government August 14, 2018

WHY DO WE NEED GOVERNMENT?

The Social Contract I can’t predict what you were going to say when I made this PowerPoint, but I hope that you at least implied that we need government because society needs some sort of rules. The idea that we agree give up some of our rights in order to have a system that protects us (and our stuff) is known as the SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY. The organizational structure that we create through these social contracts are what we know as GOVERNMENTS. Governments act like a seesaw – balancing how much freedom we are willing to give up for safety and how much safety we are willing to give up for rights and liberties…

The Social Contract Seesaw: (I made this up… Seriously, you are not going to find this in any Government textbook) Safety Liberty

Locke vs. Hobbes Both JOHN LOCKE and THOMAS HOBBES were two English philosophers who were really interested in why people created governments, and both of them believed in the idea of a social contract. However, the two of them disagreed on how humans behaved and why they entered into these contracts.

John Locke Locke’s most famous work was called Two Treatises on Government, and it tried to explain why people created governments. Locke believed: People are generally good, kept their promises, and were usually peaceful people who know right from wrong People should be able to live in peace and refrain from hurting each other and our stuff We give up SOME rights to a government to keep others from hurting us and taking our stuff We DON’T give up rights like LIFE, LIBERTY, and PROPERTY RIGHTS If a ruler tries to take that stuff from us, we can get rid of him (or her)

People are Good

Thomas Hobbes Hobbes’ most famous work was called Leviathan. His view of people was slightly more of a downer. Hobbes believed: People are not social and inherently good. Life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” People live in a continual state of violent conflict and war and a strong government is the only thing keeping us safe from that. You gave up your rights to the government because you were scared. In return, they keep you from being dead. A ruler has absolute power. It can do what it wants without violating the social contract. You have no right to rebel UNLESS your ruler doesn’t protect you anymore.

People are bad.

People are bad cont.

TYPES OF GOVERNMENT Governments can generally be broken down into two basic forms: 1) DEMOCRACIES 2) DICTATORSHIPS

DEMOCRACIES In a democracy, the people ultimately have political power (remember the quote?) – government happens only because of the consent of the governed. There is more than one type of democracy: DIRECT DEMOCRACY: All people vote directly on all issues themselves (ex. town hall meeting) REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: The people elect representatives to carry out government and make decisions for themselves. WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF EACH TYPE?

DICTATORSHIPS “No one man should have all that power… DICTATORSHIPS “No one man should have all that power…. The clock’s ticking, I just count the hours….Stop trippin’, I’m trippin off the power…” In a dictatorship, the people in charge are not directly accountable to what the people want. They do not rule by the consent of the governed. There is more than one type of dictatorship: AUTOCRACY: One person holds all the power OLIGARCHY: Power is held by only a few people Dictatorships are AUTHORITARIAN – the ones in charge make all the rules and can’t be challenged

All the power!

Who’s In Charge? Distributing Power in Governments Governments can distribute power (who makes the rules) in one of three ways: In a UNITARY GOVERNMENT, all of the powers belong to one single, central entity. The central government does not have to share power with any other group. Ex: Great Britain – Parliament gets to make all the rules. Don’t confuse this with a dictatorship – unitary governments are still democratic. They are subject to the will of the people.

In a FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, powers are shared between a central government AND local governments. Neither group gets to take power away from the other. The United States is an example of a federal government. The national government (in Washington D.C.) has to share its powers with the states In a CONFEDERATION, there is only a loose association of independent states. These states keep most of the power and only let the central organization have a few, limited powers. Ex: The European Union and the Confederate States of America