democracy

S4E6 – Contracts, Covenants, and Consent (Part 2)

In continuing our study of John Locke’s two treatises on government, today I finish up looking at his second treatise. The premise of Locke’s version of Social Contract Theory is that, at some point in the past, everyone was completely independent and free but then explicitly consented to form a government. Locke does not explain…

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S4E5 – Contracts, Covenants, and Consent

Today I shift over to a discussion of John Locke and his works on government. Many consider Locke to be both a secularist and a key influence in the American War for Independence. I challenge both of those notions. More specifically, I look at his first treatise on government, which was a response to the…

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S4E4 – American Woman

Today I finish our study of Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville, by looking at what he says concerning the women of America. In the 1830s, Tocqueville drew a stark contrast between American women and the women of France. He went so far as to say that the prosperity, success, and strength of America…

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S4E3 – Christianity Ends Slavery

Today I look at two documents. The first is the book of Philemon from the New Testament, which sets the stage for the peaceful end of slavery. The second is Alexis de Tocqueville’s book Democracy in America, in which he discusses the issue of slavery in the southern states. He argues against slavery not only on…

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S4E2 – Restraining the Tyranny of the Majority

Today I continue looking at Alexis de Tocqueville’s work Democracy in America, written in the 1830s. He saw Americans as having an inordinate love of the power of the majority. Yet even so, liberty remained strong in the land. How was that possible? What was restraining the power of the majority in the United States?…

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