Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Homo Economicus, Appeasement, Jeremy Bentham
21 Aug 2013
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Justifying the state: the state and political obligation. Negative argument: the state is the only alternative to the state of nature. People are naturally free, equal, and independent: locke"s claim. Legitimate power is created by us: not handed down by god, ect. If we don"t consent to it, no obligation to listen because it is not legitimate. In return, it is responsible for protecting us. If not enforcing law, cannot be legitimate: hurricane katrina showed political incompetence and failure to respond effectively (bush at first did little to aid the problem until many people had already died) Justifying the state= showing that there are universal political obligations. Does the fact that a law was passed thru legitimate process give a reason to follow it even if you disagree: cannot have significant population disagreeing with law or will lose social order. State is like your parents, citizens are to the state as children are to parents (plato"s crito)
