“Consent of the governed” refers to the idea that a government’s legitimacy and moral right to use state power is justified and lawful only when consented, or agreed to, by the people over which that political power is exercised. Consent is fundamental to social contract accounts of political legitimacy, arising as early as Plato's Crito but most prominently in the 17th-century writings of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.
Sign the Petition: WE DO NOT CONSENT!
Locke believed that in a state of nature, no one would have the right to govern (rule over) you, and you would not have the right to govern anyone else. According to Locke, the only way the people get the right to govern anyone else is when the people give their consent (approval/permission). People have political obligations, and that political obligation depends on freely chosen, deliberate acts of individual consent. Locke presents consent as a deliberate act that constitutes an undertaking of obligation, and he requires political consent because (a) every person is a free, equal, and sovereign individual and (b) a free, equal, and sovereign individual cannot be subject to non-natural obligations.
Locke’s focus on explicit or literal consent has been questioned over time. More often we speak of political consent as being implicit, or “participatory” consent. Plato referred to this kind of “implicit” consent in his dialogue Crito, when he has Socrates say that growing up he knew what the laws of his city-state were, and upon becoming an adult he chose to stay in the city state (giving consent), so he now had an obligation to obey the laws, even if they were not convenient for him.
It is painfully obvious that America's democracy is under serious threat of being overthrown by an Oligarchy. NONE of us gave our consent to live in Tyranny! Use the link above to register your withdrawal of consent to be governed by this fascist regime.
This article is an excerpt from: The New Jersey Center for Civic Education, Rutgers University
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