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When we ended last time
we were discussing Locke's idea of government by consent
and the question arose
what are the
limits on government
that even the
the agreement of the majority can't override
that was the question we ended with
we saw
in the case of property rights
that on Locke's view
a democratically elected government has the right to tax people
it has to be taxation with consent
because it does involve the taking of people's property
for the common good
but it doesn't require
the consent of the each individual
at the time the tax
is enacted or collected
what it does require
is a prior act of consent
to join the society
to take on the political obligation
but once you take on that obligation you agree to be bound by the majority
so much for taxation
but what, you may ask
about
the right
to life
can the government conscript
people and send them into battle
what about the idea that we own ourselves
is the idea of self possession violated
if the government
can through coercive legislation and enforcement powers say
you must go risk your life to fight in Iraq
what would Locke say? does the government have the right to do that?
yes
in fact he says in one thirty nine
he says
what matters
is that the political authority
or the military authority
not be arbitrary that's what matters
he gives a wonderful example he says a
a sergeant even a sergeant
let alone a general, a sergeant
can command a soldier
to go right up to the face of a cannon
where he is almost sure to die
that the sergeant can do
the general can condemn the soldier to death for deserting his post or for not obeying
even a desperate order
but with all their power over life and death
what these officers can't do
is take a penny
of that soldier's money
because that has
nothing to do with the rightful authority
that would be arbitrary
and it would be corrupt
so consent winds up being very powerful in Locke, not consent of the individual to the
particular tax or military order,
but consent to join the government and to be bound by the majority in the first place
that's the consent that matters
and it matters so
powerfully
the even the limited government created by the fact that we have an unalienable right
to life liberty and property
even that limited government is only limited in the sense that it has to govern by generally
applicable laws, the rule of law, it can't be arbitrary
that's Locke.
well this raises a question
about consent. Why is consent such a
powerful moral instrument in
creating political authority and the obligation to obey
today we begin to investigate the question of consent
by looking at a concrete case
the case of military conscription.
now some people say
if we have a fundamental right
that arises from
the idea that we own ourselves
it's a violation of that right
for a government
to conscript citizens to go fight in wars.
others disagree others say that's a legitimate
power
of government, of democratically elected government anyhow,
and that we have an obligation to obey
let's take the case
the united states fighting a war in Iraq.
news accounts tell us
that the military
is having great difficulty meeting its
recruitment targets
consider three policies that the
US government might undertake
to deal with the fact that it's not
achieving its recruiting targets
solution number one
increase the pay and benefits
to attract a sufficient number
of soldiers,
option number two
shift to a system of military conscription
have a lottery
and who's ever numbers
are drawn
go to fight in Iraq,
system number three
outsource, hire
what traditionally have been called mercenaries
people around the world who are qualified,
able to do the work, able to fight well
and who are willing to do it
for the existing wage
so let's take a quick
poll here
how many favor increasing the pay?
huge majority.
how many favor going to conscription?
all right maybe a dozen people in the room
favor conscription.
what about the outsourcing solution?
okay so there maybe
about two, three dozen.
during the civil war
the union
used
a combination
of conscription
and the market system
to fill the ranks of the military to fight in the civil war
it was a system that
began with conscription
but
if you
were
drafted
and didn't want to serve
you could hire a substitute take your place
and many people did
you could pay whatever the market
required in order to find a substitute
people ran ads in
newspapers in the classified ads
offering
five hundred dollars
sometimes a thousand dollars
for a substitute who would go fight the civil war
in their place
in fact
it's reported that Andrew Carnegie
was drafted
and hired a substitute to take his place
for an amount
that was
a little less than the amount to spend for a year on fancy cigars
now I want to get your views
about this civil war system call it the a hybrid system
conscription but with the buyout provision
how many think it was a just system how many would defend the civil war system?
anybody?
one, anybody else?
to three
four five.
how many think it was unjust?
most of you don't like the civil war system you think it's
unjust, let's hear an objection
why don't you like it? what's wrong with it?
yes. well by paying
three hundred dollars for
to be exempt one time around you're really putting a price on valuing human life
and we established earlier that's really hard to do so
they're trying to accomplish something that really isn't feasible.
good, so
so paying someone three hundred or five hundred or a thousand dollars
you're basically saying that's what their life is worth you. that's what their life is worth
it's putting a dollar value on life