Pat was feeling liberal so Ben trots out that golden idol of modern democracy, John Locke, and his sacred teachings on individual rights and the consent of the governed. This fool started his career as a doctor but his inability to resist blowing up the idiocy of divine rule cemented his legacy as perhaps the most important political philosopher in the Western tradition. Just like the American patriots he influenced a generation later, he had a complicated relationship with the radical ideas he espoused in the face of the very real dilemma of slavery. His involvement, direct or not, in establishing slavery in the Colony of Carolina makes it hard to square with his argument for individual liberty as the ultimate source of power.

Yikes!