On the Dissolution of Government: Thoughts by John Locke, Two Treatises on Government

John Locke is one of those "celebrated writers" whose thoughts and writings impacted political thought in the United States. Excerpts like the one in this post help one understand why. Simply, they are quite thought provoking.

Enjoy.

August Glen-James, editor

There is one way more whereby such a Government may be dissolved, and that is, when he who has the Supreme Executive  Power, neglects and abandons that charge, so that the Laws already made can no longer be put in execution. This is demonstratively to reduce all to Anarchy, and so effectually to dissolve the Government. For Laws not being made for themselves, but to be by their execution the Bonds of the Society, to keep every part of the Body Politick in its due place and function, when that totally ceases, the Government visibly ceases, and the People become a confused multitude, without Order or Connexion. Where there is no longer the administration of Justice, for the securing of Mens Rights, nor any remaining Power within the Community to direct the Force, or provide for the Necessities of the public, there certainly is no Government left. Where the Laws cannot be executed, it is all one as if there were no Laws, and a Government without Laws, is, I suppose, a Mystery in Politicks, unconceivable to humane Capacity, and inconsistent with humane Society.

In these and like Cases, when the Government is dissolved, the People are at liberty to provide for themselves, by erecting a new Legislative, differing from the other, by the change of Persons, or Form, or both as they shall find it most for their safety and good. For the society can never, by the fault of another, lose the Native and Original Right it has to preserve itself, which can only be done by a settled Legislative, and a fair and impartial execution of the Laws made by it. But the state of Mankind is not so miserable that they are not capable of using this Remedy, till it be too late to look for any.

To tell People they may provide for themselves, by erecting a new Legislative, when the Oppression, Artifice, or being delivered over to a Foreign Power, their old one is gone, is only to tell them they may expect Relief, when it is too late, and the evil is past Cure. This is in effect no more than to bid them first be Slaves, and then to take care of their Liberty; and when their Chains are on, tell them, they may act like Freemen. This, if barely so, is rather Mockery than Relief; and Men can never be secure from Tyranny, if there be no means to escape it, till they are perfectly under it: And therefore it is, that they have not only a Right to get out of it but to prevent it.

Locke, John. Two Treatises of Government. Edited by Peter Laslett, Cambridge University Press, 1988. PP. 410-411.