Introduction
The world has throughout history experienced various leaders who have been and continue to hold different views and opinions as to how the States and governments are to be led. Political leaders are seen to be the drivers of governments and States; however, it is important to note here that society is not lead by only political leaders but rather leaders with different ideologies including social, economic, cultural, religious, geographical orientation.
United States of America politics has changed the hands of many conservatives, democrats, and republicans and is now in the hands of the newly elected president Barrack Osama. However, it is important to note at this juncture that all has not been smooth and it is important to appreciate the country’s heroes both dead and alive for the far they have brought this country and at the same time acknowledge that there will be more change in the future as power continues to change hands in days and years to come.
Discussion
America’s third president Thomas Jefferson is among many other leaders that left a legacy in American history especially in constitution writing. Despite being far from the country at the time of constitution writing, Jefferson influenced political affairs while in France as the US minister for finance. He was involved in the development of the federal government through correspondence. His main concern with the establishment of federal governments was a federal government with limited powers. As with this ally John Locke, he believed that leaders should not overstep their boundaries.
Even before he became the third president of the United States of America his contributions to the formation of the government including the definition of the power of the Constitution was considerable. He was responsible for writing the Declaration of Independence which saw the freeing of all American States from their colonizer; Britain thought he admitted that that contained no original ideas but was rather a statement shared by supporters of the American Revolution. He was also responsible for writing a preamble of the Constitution of Virginia and George Mason’s draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Through the help of sources from documents that had been written in 1776, Jefferson was able to get ideas and phrases from two documents and wrote the Declaration of Independence.
When Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, it at the same time chose Jefferson, his predecessor John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin to design a great seal of the newborn country Franklin came up with the phrase “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God, this phrase was highly appreciated by Jefferson who despite its rejection by Congress he continued using it as “E Pluribus Unum and it ultimately became the country’s motto. His conviction that liberty had to be fought for made him welcome the Shay’s Rebellion in Massachusetts saying that liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants adding that it is natural manure and that rather than repression the remedy is to them right as to facts , pardon and pacify them. (Jefferson 1755-1816) He in fact went ahead and prayed that America would not take more than twenty years without a rebellion for this was the only way according to him that would refresh the tree of liberty (Ferling 2004)..
Jefferson was not only a leader who cared supported the powerful in the government was also concerned with the welfare of the poor and the oppressed. His efforts to protect individual rights including freedom of the press were substantial though not always successful. On January 28, 1786, he wrote a letter to James Currie, a correspondent while in France “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press and that cannot be limited without being lost” (Thomas Jefferson 1786). This was to show his solidarity with the medical fraternity despite his support not being effective as to stop or change anything. Though he seldom wrote he encouraged writers including James Madison and James Monroe to write in his favor and counter federalists.
As far as the handling of power was concerned. He was also particularly concerned about how power changed hands and as a result, he objected to the absence of a bill of rights that did not provide for rotation in office or term of limits especially for chief executive. In 1800 when there was almost a constitutional crisis due to his deadlocking with Aaron Burr, after winning through votes from the electoral college, Jefferson established a principle that saw the smooth exchange of power from losers to winners, especially in presidential wins. This was very important because the world has today witnessed massacre and racial and ethnic wars especially in the developing world. The limit rules have also facilitated democracy since there can be is room for change of government within a short period of four years as witnessed with the recent election of Obama.
In his fight for humanitarian rights, during his second term in office, Jefferson took the earliest available allowing by the Constitution to abolish slaves importation from outside the USA. Through his influence slaves importation was prohibited in 1808. Despite his fight for individual rights, Jefferson was also keen to protect the church from intimidation by the government. It was him that compelled the government though provision in the Constitution to desist from intermeddling with religious institutions, their exercises, doctrines, etc. This was not only to secure freedom or religion but also to ensure that the government was not overstepping its mandate (Ferling 2004).
As discussed earlier in this paper not only the most powerful in the political arena had/influences the leadership of a country. John Locke whose most opinions and views agreed with Thomas Jefferson was also a key opinion leader in the formation of the USA and its Constitution. As a matter of fact and as already mentioned that the Declaration of Independence was not any particular person’s ideas, Locke’s ideas were most influential. Carl L Becker in 1922 wrote that “most Americans had absorbed Locke’s works as a kind of political gospel….” Though his influence on the American Revolution was not so popular with some scholars they were substantial and not ignorable. Like Jefferson, Locke was also concerned with the checks and balances of the government and as a matter of fact, said something to the effect that overstepping of limits was disobedience to God and that justified rebellion.
His beliefs that revolution was necessary under some circumstances were included in the Declaration of Independence and it the beliefs further formed the foundation of liberal democracy which played a great part in both the American and French revolutions. He like Jefferson believed that all people are equal despite their race and status quo and through education; everybody can be free from subjugation and tyranny. He therefore could not support either USA colonization by the Britons nor importation of slaves in the country. It was his believe also that a people belonged to the government not to oppress but to protect and respect sovereignty over their humanitarian rights and ownership of property. Though his theory that government cannot dispose of property of its subject without consent was critiqued by Karl Marx’s social theory, Locke helped in protecting the citizenry from being robbed by the government. He believed that labor justified ownership and so long as someone had worked not even the government had the power to take anything from him(Dunn 1984).
He believed that government was by the people and for the people and that consent was key. He made it clear that consent must be voluntary for authority to be legitimate. He went ahead to say that “by consent, all were equal till by the same consent they set rulers over themselves. If that was the principle for governance then if the government overstepped its boundaries there remained no government on the earth and that divine intervention would be required. Locke also believed that no government would keep its subject from meeting or assembling as the subjects needed freedom to speak and express themselves.
During the Glorious Revolution, Locke released two documents that he had written advising Clarke an English philosopher that the men who had attended the coronation of William III were not ordinary members of parliament but rather men who were restoring ancient government the best that ever were men who were committed to forming a great frame of the government. Locke did not only influence politics but also the religious thought of Americans. He believed that the bible was to be understood within the right context and language of the time. He strongly believed that the law of faith had the only requirement that Jesus was the Messiah and thus people ought to continue being controlled by the law of nature meaning that they the people needed to erect and follow laws (Dunn 1984).
Another leader that has over the years to date influenced political leadership is Francis Fukuyama who is an important icon in neo-conservatism. One of the recent vices he fought was the Bush administration since according to him Bust overstepped his boundaries during the war in Iraq despite the prove even by the United Nations’ officials that there were not the weapon of mass destruction. Though he was among the forty co-signer who asked wrote a letter to President Bush to arrest and or eliminate Osama Bin Laden after September 11, 2001.
Fukuyama believes that the Bush administration has overestimated Osama’s threat to the US citizenry. He believes that the Bush administration has misjudged and has been deceived to think that western culture and values can work in Iraq and the Middle East. He agrees that all countries have a right to spread or export their values to the world but there must not be military action. He argues that the US does not take time to understand the values and social-economic events of the other countries and as a result, its policies end up being rejected. He says that the secret to penetration is through political and economic strategies. Fukuyama is of the opinion that war is not the solution and that the more the US fight especially with Muslims who believe are actually fighting for their faith will not yield fruits. As a matter of fact war will heighten animosity between the Western countries and Muslim world.
By Fukuyama supporting Osama, he contributed to a change of government that he thought was badly needed. He blames Bush for two major mistakes; undermining the United Nations in his first term and presiding over financial crises in his second term. Fukuyama beliefs that Osama is in a much better position to reinvent the American financial status that country is going through He believes that the country needs to rethink taxes and regulations and consider them important Fukuyama does not leave John McCain scot-free, he blames him for pretending not to be involved with ideologies of his Republican party, notwithstanding being a close follower and supporter of Bush Administration.
Conclusion
The discussion in this paper has covered three major political influencers both in the past and present. The paper has demonstrated that rules are made by the people for the people as we have seen with John Locke who believed that the government has no permission to overstep its boundaries and if it does then there is no sound judgment on such a country and therefore a higher source (divine) is sought. This paper has also demonstrated that human rights have been fought for, for a long time but according to Locke what we call Human rights should just be brought about by obeying human nature. Finally, the paper has given an example of recent theorists and writer who is committed to critique the government and at the same time advise on the way ahead.
Work Cited
Essay to Clarke, (1985) “John Locke on the Glorious Revolution: A Rediscovered Document.”
Dunn, John (1984) Consent in the Political Theory of John Locke.” The Historical Journal 10 (1967), 153-82 Locke Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ferling, John (2004). Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultuous Election of 1800.