Non-Violence And Civil Disobedience

The theory of John Locke is the most suitable theories that can be applied in society to help run an effective system of government for the people. The state of nature talks about every man being free and being governed by the laws of nature. The social contract speaks about the peoples consent to allow themselves to be govern by a government which was designed to maintain order and provide benefit to the society in which they govern. Locke believed that no individual or system of government had a divine right to govern over people. Neither did he favor one system over the other, since all systems had its flaws, but simultaneously was capable of being a blessing to the people. Laws should have the intention of helping society and benefitting …show more content…
He believed that the people had a duty to stand up against injustice, King said “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” This approach has a record of being effective, since it was used by Mahatma Gandhi with the British colonization of India. King studied and adopted this theory from this man. However, we must ask ourselves, how can the people allow the government to become tyrannical and not be held accountable. Could this have been a result of neglect coming from the people? Even though non-violence is an effective method of dealing with an unjust system, will non-violence be met with violence, and if so how long will the people tolerate it? I do believe this is an effective approach, but clearly people have not consented to this form of government or did little to voice their opinion about the injustices of it before it got this big. Civil disobedience and non-violence are going to require a huge sacrifice, since it did have people killed during some of the protests. Even jail time; let us keep in mind, King wrote the letter from Birmingham jail “from jail!” Once it has reach a point that the government has become too powerful to be challenged, will the people have the mind-set to start a revolution? We must ask ourselves, have people allowed this injustice to go on for so long because they have just accepted it as truth? Or perhaps this unjust system has provided so much subsides that people have grown indifferent to the policies that are being made, since everything they want is being handed to them? I give credit to Dr. Martin Luther King for rallying a huge crowd of supporters, and being awarded the privilege to speak with political leaders on his stance with racial injustice. However, Let us keep in mind that he met much oppositions and even a couple of murder attempts before being assassinated. As well as those that have gone before him. Overall, if