According to John Locke individuals re naturally indifferent to one another. In addition, moral distinctions characterize individual's social relationships and these individual moral distinctions are natural or are God given according to Locke. For Locke the individual acts morally only in light of the threat of future divine reward or divine punishment. The more God consciousness evaporates from a society, the less inclination the citizenry will have to live morally according to Locke's philosophy.
In addition, Locke argued that all individuals have the right to be treated equally regardless of their life status. Life is a divine gift, which provides the basis for this equality among individuals. Locke argued also that individual are bound to obey the law not on the basis of the power of an external authority such as the Leviathan as Hobbes argued. Rather Locke contends that the individual obeys the law only because they give internal consent to the law. Conscience and moral sensibility compels the individual to give allegiance to the law and to the authority of the government.
Lock also argued that all human beings have a God given right to own property. Wealth, prestige and power are to be distributed justly when worked for. Inherent in these two positions is the idea that the individual citizen is endowed by his Creator with a right to personal property that transcends the individuals obligation to "share the wealth" and that the access which the individual has to property and to wealth is secured through the mandate to work for those things. In this point of Lockean political philosophy we see the foundation for capitalism.
Regarding the role of government, government is to standardize punishment for all individuals who refuse to live by the law of the land and who intrude upon another citizen's personal rights. For Locke, such punishment by the government has two purposes: deterrence and retribution. In short, the State is to protect the individuals natural or God given rights to life, liberty and property.
A number of objections can be launched at Locke's political philosophy. First, Locke seems to possess an overly optimistic view of the majority. His emphasis upon majority rule may eventually lead to the tyranny of the majority over the minority on a particular issue.
In addition, Locke possesses an overly optimistic view of the individual's access to wealth and power through work. Part of accessing wealth and power lies beyond the scope of hard work. The individual must also possess access to certain networks, relationships, and social structures both in the educational as well as in the economic spheres.
Further, although not touched upon in our summary, Locke argued on the one hand for the separation of church and state while on the other hand he argued that the individual has inherent rights, which are God given. It seems that it is hard for Locke to have it both ways with regard to these two matters.
