Political power is the right to make death-penalized laws for the public good alone.
Evidence
Political Power, then I take to be a Right of making Laws with Penalties of Death, and consequently all less Penalties, for the Regulating and Preserving of Property, and of employing the force of the Community, in the Execution of such Laws, and in the defence of the Common-wealth from foreign Injury, and all this only for the publick Good. — , Second Treatise of Government and A…, 275
Categorization
- DEFINE: The foundational definition of political power: lawmaking backed by capital penalties, force, and exclusively public justification.
- XREF: This is the definition later constitutions and social-contract theories build on or react against. — connects to: Political power is lawmaking backed by force and limited to the public good — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 7; Public execution functions as a political ritual of power, not mere justice. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 101; Legislative power is inherently limited to the common good and standing law — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 158 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Political power is lawmaking backed by force and limited to the public good
#corroborates(1.00) — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 7 - Public execution functions as a political ritual of power, not mere justice.
#complicates(1.00) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 101 - Legislative power is inherently limited to the common good and standing law
#complicates(1.00) — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 158 - Proportionality’s incalculability serves to legitimize the deaths it governs
#complicates(0.90) - Rule by decree severs justification from principle, making power itself the source of law.
#qualifies(0.85)