...property (broadly understood). In the beginning of the Second Treatise, Locke defined political power as "a right of making laws with penalties of death, and...regulating and preserving of property, and of employing the forces of the community, in the execution of such laws, and in the defense of the commonwealth from...

...English philosopher often viewed as the "theoretical father" of classical liberalism: Political power ... I take to be a right of making laws with penalties of death, and ... all less penalties for the regulating and preserving of property . . . and of employing the force...

...we come to the heart of the matter. John Locke's definition of political power is worth recalling: "Political power, then, I take to be a right of making...community in the execution of such laws, and in the commonwealth from foreign injury, and all this only for the common good."26 Dahrendorf agrees: the...

...that the machinery of government may be used against the very individuals it is supposed to protect: "Political power then I take to be a right of making...Property, and of employing the force of the Community on the Execution of such Laws, and in the defence of the commonwealth from foreign injury, and all...

...Locke, Two Treatises of Government, II, § 120. 64. Locke, Two Treatises of Government, II, § 50; cf. "Political Power then I take to be a Right of making...Penalties, for the Regulating and Preserving of Property" (ibid., II, § 2; my emphasis). 65. The classic illustration, in the American case, is the Supreme...

...chapter of the Second Treatise thus offers a definition of political power as 'a Right of making Laws ... for the Regulating and Preserving of Property, and...the defence of the Common-wealth from Foreign Injury ...' Especially in the last third of the Second Treatise, Locke makes u clear that by 'property' he...

...sovereign. Locke's definition of power (Second Treatise, sec. 3, p. 268) is succinct: "Political power I take to be a right of making laws with penalties of death, and consequently all lessjer] penalties for the regulating and preserving [of] property, and of employing the force of the...

...the difference betwixt a ruler of a commonwealth, a father of a family, and a captain of a galley. 3. and penalties of death, and consequently all less penalties for the regulating and preserving of property,...

...starting point for Locke's treatise involves a cluster of concepts including power, life, and property:5 'Political power, then, I take to be a right of making...laws with penalties of death, and consequently, all lesser penalties for the regulating and preserving of property, and of employing the force of the community...

...the power of life and death. And since this power is the fundamental mark of political authority — "Political Power then I take to be a Right of making Laws with Penalties of Death" ^ — dependents and husbands/masters are indeed ultimately equal insofar as political power is concerned....