Locke and the Fiscal Cliff

President Obama and Governor Romney

If you followed the recent Presidential election chances are you've heard a little bit about the economy. We all know that it is not in the best shape, and most of us know that part of President Obama's plan to fix the economy is to raise taxes for the wealthiest 2% of Americans.  But a lot of us don't know that in his Second Treatise, John Locke discussed a very similar issue.

John Locke

In his Second Treatise, John Locke discusses the idea of property, and how people come to own it along with how much they should own.  He gives an example using apples; he states that a person should collect as many apples as he or she can reasonably use, but should not collect any more than that to avoid waste.  A person should not collect too many apples, because as Hobbes put it, God did not put anything on this Earth for men to destroy.  So basically, he states that people should not be greedy.  If we take this example and replace apples with money we see a situation much like what we have in the United States today.

Obviously, some people are poor and some people are rich.  Some do not have enough money, and some have more money than they can spend.  Even though money cannot go rotten like apples can, it seems unnecessary that certain people have much of their wealth sitting in an account untouched.  So why do these people pay a smaller percent of their money to the government than those who only have as much money as they need?  

This guy has too much money

While the fiscal cliff addresses many issues, not just the issue of raising taxes for the rich, this is by far the most publicized and debated solution.  Earlier today, President Obama spoke in Detroit and said "When you put it all together, what you need is a package that keeps taxes where they are for middle-class families; we make some tough spending cuts on things that we don’t need; and then we ask the wealthiest Americans to pay a slightly higher tax rate."  Locke would completely agree with the President on this issue.  Those who have just as much as they need, the middle class, should continue to have as much as they need, without compromising a large portion of it.  Those who have more than they need, the upper class, should not be greedy with their property; they should give up a larger portion of their wealth for the benefit of society.

Presumably, higher taxes for the rich will be implemented when the Bush tax cuts expire on January 1st.  Without a doubt, there will be backlash, and the President will have to argue for his views often.  At times he may feel alone, so hopefully he knows that John Locke would be on his side.

Sources:
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