Government is Incomplete Conquest

... the terms of the contract. The victors, that is the thugs, emerged cleansed and sanctified as the feudal aristocracy. When Thomas Hobbes grounded his theory of government in the consent of free individuals born with inalienable rights, he didn't ... ... face constant fear of violent death, or surrender all their rights to an absolute sovereign who would ensure peace and order. John Locke put forward a more palatable view of the social contract, much closer to the liberal-democratic ideals widely shared ...