Abstract
Lockean liberalism stands or falls by the distinction between government and society, also called the public and the private. Only if this distinction is maintained can the immutable right of men and women to choose those with whom they associate be maintained, whether the choice pertains to business, education, religion, etc. This distinction between the public and the private has always been threatened by sincere, but misguided, attempts to secure justice. This chapter explains the source of the present danger and how a desire to maintain that aged Lockean distinction led to the election of Donald Trump. The election of Donald Trump represented the victory of an electorate still devoted to the private, however tenuously or confusedly. The chapter contains an examination of economics, immigration, and religious liberty in an attempt to show the gulf and agreement between Locke and Trump.
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- 1.
How could this diagnosis produce racists ? It frames the electoral struggle as the struggle of overt and microagressive white supremacists , and not everyone has the mental wherewithal to break out of their enemy’s frame of reference. I like the example of the Salem Witch Trials. Massachusetts, always a hotbed of moral fervor, was filled with anxiety over, and hatred of, witches. One of the terrible things witches did was dance in the woods. So what did rebellious teenagers do? They danced in the woods. One self-proclaimed practitioner of witchcraft hated the family she worked for. Who did the family she work for hate ? They hated witches. What did she become? A witch.
- 2.
Associated Press. “Trending story that Clinton won just 57 counties is untrue.” https://apnews.com/fb5a5f7da21d460bbffb6985cb01cb2c/trending-story-clinton-won-just-57-counties-untrue (accessed August 2, 2017).
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Locke, John. 1980 . Second Treatise of Government. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing: 9. I emphasize “should” because the middle class is largely to blame for its shrinking size and influence.
- 4.
Politico. “Donald Trump’s jobs plan speech.” http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/full-transcript-trump-job-plan-speech-224891 (accessed September 4, 2017).
- 5.
TIME staff. “Here’s Donald Trump’s Presidential Announcement Speech.” http://time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/ (accessed September 4, 2017). Speaking of Republicans, Trump said, “And they don’t talk jobs and they don’t talk China . … You don’t hear it from anybody else. And I watch the speeches.” See also, LA Times Staff. http://latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-donald-trump-immigration-speech-transcript-20160831-snap-htmlstory.html (accessed September 4, 2017). “The fundamental problem with the immigration in our country is that it serves the needs of the wealthy donors, political activists and powerful, powerful politicians.”
- 6.
Maria Panaritas, Dylan Purcell, Chris Brennan, and Angela Couloumbis. “How Trump took Pennsylvania: Wins everywhere (almost) but the southeast.” http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/presidential/201661110_How_Trump_took_Pennsylvania_wins_almost_everwhere_but_the_southeast.html (accessed July 9, 2017).
Dan Horn, and Jeremy Fugleberg. “How Donald Trump won Ohio.” http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2016/11/09/how-trump-won-ohio/93560164 (accessed July 9, 2017).
- 7.
Ruth Igielnik. “GOP gained ground in middle-class communities in 2016.” http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/12/08/gop-gained-ground-in-middle-class-communities-in-2016/ (accessed July 25, 2017). “Of the 221 areas examined, there are 57 such solidly middle-class areas, and they were almost equally split in 2008, with 30 areas voting for Democrats and 27 for Republicans. In 2016, Trump successfully defended all 27 middle-class areas won by Republicans in 2008. In a dramatic shift, however, Hillary Clinton lost in 18 of the 30 middle-class areas won by Democrats in 2008.”
- 8.
Locke (1980, 23).
- 9.
Locke (1980, 21 & 26).
- 10.
Locke, John. 2006. Locke: Political Essays. Ed. Mark Goldie. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 222.
- 11.
Locke (1980, 13 emphasis added).
- 12.
Locke (1980, 106 emphasis added).
- 13.
Locke (1980, 115).
- 14.
Locke (1980, 9).
- 15.
Locke (1980, 19).
- 16.
Locke (2006, 222).
- 17.
Locke (2006, 186).
- 18.
These metaphorical statements on size pertain almost exclusively to acquisition, property , and speech. Locke suggests many ways that men ought to become smaller and give way, but these suggestions have a limit and have as their aim the promotion of the industrious and rational man. For example, Locke teaches that it is rational to tolerate other religions , which of course may make things feel a bit cramped at times, to a certain kind of person.
- 19.
Locke (2006, 322 & 324).
- 20.
Locke, John. 1983. A Letter Concerning Toleration. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing: 24–25.
- 21.
Locke (2006, 191–192). Here Locke focuses on ameliorating the effects of poverty on children ages 3–14. He notes that without some care given by the parish, their bodies would fail to grow healthy. He also laments the poor parents’ “loose way of breeding up” their children. That is, he fears that without some additional attention from the community, the children will turn out unhealthy and morally coarse. These unhealthy characters make them dangerous to the laboring classes. As adults with unhealthy bodies and narrowed minds, these poorly reared men will not only need more sustenance, they can procreate and may participate in the political life of the commonwealth.
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Locke (1983, 34).
- 23.
Locke, John. 1996. Eds. Ruth W. Grant and Nathan Tarcov. Some Thoughts Concerning Education and Of the Conduct of the Understanding. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing: 212. It should be noted, “inheriting local truths” is simply what normally happens. The local truths Locke addresses tended to produce “zealous bigots,” which was the nub of the problem. That is, the problem is not belief itself, but belief in exaggerated threats.
- 24.
Locke (1983, 36).
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Locke (1983, 27 & 38).
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Adam Wolfson ably presents and explains this argument of Locke’s. Adam Wolfson. 2010. Persecution or Toleration: An explication of the Locke – Proast Quarrel, 1689–1704. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books: 59–78.
- 27.
Locke, John. 1996. Eds. Ruth W. Grant and Nathan Tarcov. Some Thoughts Concerning Education and Of the Conduct of the Understanding. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing: 169.
- 28.
Locke (1996, 176).
- 29.
All quoted in: West, Tom. 2017. The Political Theory of The American Founding: Natural Rights, Public Policy, and The Moral Conditions of Freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 386–388.
- 30.
Locke (2006, 325).
- 31.
Locke (2006, 326).
- 32.
Locke (2006, 184).
- 33.
Locke (1983, 50).
- 34.
Locke (1983, 33).
- 35.
Locke himself taught that men should “enter into some religious society … to own to the world that they worship God” (1983, 38–39). But was disgusted by the irrational thirst for vengeance that erupted when some decent men did not bring their children to church or attended the “wrong” church (1983, 34).
- 36.
Locke (1983, 55).
- 37.
Locke (1983, 54–55).
Bibliography
Locke, John. 1980. In Second Treatise of Government, ed. C.B. Macpherson. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.
———. 1983. In A Letter Concerning Toleration, ed. James H. Tully. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.
———. 1996. In Some Thoughts Concerning Education and of the Conduct of the Understanding, ed. Ruth W. Grant and Nathan Tarcov. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.
———. 2006. In Locke: Political Essays, ed. Mark Goldie. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
West, Tom. 2017. The Political Theory of The American Founding: Natural Rights, Public Policy, and The Moral Conditions of Freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wolfson, Adam. 2010. Persecution or Toleration: An Explication of the Locke – Proast Quarrel, 1689–1704. Lanham: Lexington Books.
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Simmons, C. (2018). Preserving Liberty in Mass Society: Locke and the 2016 Presidential Election. In: Sable, M., Torres, A. (eds) Trump and Political Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74427-8_9
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