The first document I will analyze is The Declaration of Independence which I consider to be the most influenced by Locke's ideology of any document the founders drafted. This document was the official proclamation of freedom from the tyrannical rule of England over the American colonies. Thomas Jefferson, the chief architect of the Declaration of Independence was heavily influenced by Locke's philosophy of government which can easily be seen in the Declaration's text. For the most part, Locke would be
In the late 18th century, individuals such as James Iredell, Alexander Hamilton, and James Wilson wrote publicly to convince the American people to accept the judiciary they had designed. Most notably, in The Federalist#78, Alexander Hamilton advocated judicial review on the grounds that the Constitution represents boundaries that legislators may not cross, and the courts can best protect those boundaries. If the legislature breaks the rules of the Constitution, the people can be sure the courts, through judicial review, will reign in such excesses. With no British precedent to serve as a guide, the relationship between the federal and provincial governments in Canada was largely influenced by American political principle and experience. Like the American federal Constitution established 80 years earlier, the British North America Act specified the distribution of powers
It is their job to declare void acts by other branches violating the Constitution. Second, as Alexander Hamilton has said in the Federalist Paper, the judiciary review should act as barrier between the people and the Congress. The main goal of the government is to protect the people. The Declaration of Independence also states the government is for the people. The general liberty of the people must not be in danger especially of the government power.
Legalists believed that if the punishment was heavy and the law against their actions were strict, neither the powerful nor the weak would be able to escape the consequences. There are a lot of different aspects of Confucianism and Legalism that have opposing views; the role of government was one of them. In Confucianism, the government was designed to have a good ruler that the people respected and obeyed. The intent was to have the government benefit the people. Legalists on the other hand, believed that the people were there to serve the government and that the government was the main priority in the society.
Public Benefit “Public benefit' is the legal requirement that every organization set up for one or more charitable aims must be able to demonstrate that its aims are for the public benefit”. Both the function and meaning of public benefit has primarily evolved from case law. There are two important aspects of public benefit requirement. Firstly, the purpose must be beneficial to the public, not detrimental. Illustration of this can be seen in National Anti-Vivisection society v IRC , here a trust for suppression of vivisection failed to be charitable because the House of lords held that complete suppression of vivisection was not beneficial for the public, as vivisection was important for medical science and research.
Locke would support these obligations of legislation. He believed that “the power of the legislative branch in the utmost bounds of it is limited to the public good of society.” (The Influence of Locke…) Locke would support the legislative branch because the laws they pass must be within the laws of nature and cannot restrict people’s rights. The power of the Executive Branch is given to the President of the United States, who also acts as head of state and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The Presidents job is to pass and enforce the laws created by congress. He is also the commander and chief of the military.
Therefore, the general will of the people requires that laws be amended to reflect morality and justice. Only through civil disobedience can this be achieved; blindly obeying unjust laws will only enforce unjustified public opinion. Although some argue that the general will of the people can be accurately portrayed by a government entity without
“To what extent has the Conservative party abandoned Thatcherism” It accepts that a degree of state intervention to create more social justice can be justified. This may involve welfare, but also intervention in family situations, in education and through social services in general. There is a sense that we are responsible for the welfare of those less fortunate than ourselves. Thatcherism suggested that we are responsible for ourselves as long as we have the capability) and that we should not rely on others or the state. Modern conservatives now accept that we do have mutual responsibilities.Thatcherism saw crime and disorder as a matter of personal responsibility.
If some public policy makers can make decisions that do not benefit the public as a whole but benefit their personal capitalist goals, their decision making is unethical. Taxpayers must unite to elect policy makers who follow the social enterprise model. This model produces goods and services for the market, but manages its operations and redirects its surpluses in pursuit of social and environmental goals. , By definition, ethics is the process of using reason, guided by moral standards or personal values, to make decisions regarding right- and wrong-doing in one’s professional and personal life, and taking responsibility for those decisions (Cropf). Given this definition of ethics, we would assume that our public officials understand their fiduciary responsibility to create and administer public policy that will benefit of society as a whole.
Perry and Wise defined public service motivation PSM as “an individual’s predisposition to respond motives grounded primarily or uniquely in public institutions”. The main principles of PSM are attraction to public policymaking, commitment to the public interest and civic duty. I do not consider appropriate to extend myself in the value and limits of PSM. Just mention that PSM is a tool that mitigates the principal agent problems, in combination with the other strategies proposed here, it will decrease other potential problems. In general terms, the advantage of implementing this strategy in the social contract is that agents will respond to the incentives of altruism, solidarity, conscience, and government reputation, recovering the idea of public ethos.