Week 4- Post 2

     John Locke is a powerful ally of the Libertarian. He believes that there are certain fundamental individual rights that no government can override. These rights include a human's natural right to life, liberty, and property. Locke argues that rights like property, are not just the creation of government or law, but natural rights attached to individuals as human beings even before legislatures could enact laws to define rights. He states that in order to think about what it means to have a natural right, we have to imagine the way things were before the government was in the picture. These natural rights humans have are unalienable, so they are not to be traded or given away. Yet, Locke makes a point that there is a difference between the state of law and the state of liberty. Meaning that although someone is entitled to liberty to do what they want, they are not free to take away/violate the rights of someone else. 

    Natural rights suggest that every human automatically has rights they are entitled to. Those rights should be respected by any legislature passed and peers. Which sets a libertarian outline for what is wrong and right depending on what violates their preset rights. Locke also makes it clear that everyone is equal in the state of nature and there is no hierarchy. The idea that no one is born to be a king or a queen goes against monarchies, calling the process unjust, and leaves room to think about the political philosophy behind the ruling of monarchs and heirs.