Lately, I have been reading John Locke’s “A Letter Concerning Toleration.” In it, he makes the case for religious freedom in a free society, specifically targeted at the interdenominational fighting happening amongst Christians in England during his lifetime. Now, Locke’s commitment to freedom of religion, like his adherence to the pursuit of liberty in general, is palpable as one reads this document. However, in the course of his exposition of philosophical truths validating religious freedom and tolerance, he intersperses a few crucial truths about the duty of government in general.

I was set on an entirely new train of thought after reading the following statement, and I expect that you probably will be as well. Locke writes, “The public good is the rule and measure of all lawmaking. If a thing be not useful to the commonwealth, though it be ever so indifferent, it may not presently be established by law.”

Now, it is important to know that whenever Locke uses the terminology of “may” or “may not” in any of his works, he is usually speaking in the realm of natural rights, or rights that are given by God and may not be usurped. Knowing this, we can interpret this statement to mean that when the government passes laws that are not “useful to the commonwealth,” it violates the natural, God-given rights of its citizens. Moreover, knowing that our Declaration of Independence states that our government was established to preserve our rights, thus doing the will of God, it violates His will when it takes action that is not “useful.”

How many times have we seen this government pass laws that are not useful to us? How many taxes have been levied or raised, causing us hardship? How many regulations have been passed, within or outside of legislative action, that have done harm to the ease of our lives or the welfare of our businesses? In the past year, five years, decade, century?

We tend to blame our politicians for making our lives harder, making bad decisions, and jeopardizing our security, and rightly so. However, I implore you to remember that we have been given rights by God to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and what is given to us by our Creator, no earthly power can take away. If a law does not benefit the American people, if it is not “useful to the commonwealth,” then our government has not only failed its mission, but it has betrayed the very people it exists to protect.

This is all you need to hear. You know it to be true, and you know that this upcoming election is a referendum on politics-as-usual, the kind that has passed harmful, useless laws that degrade our commonwealth and our well-being. And it is the knowledge that there is an element of the Divine in our efforts that should spur us on even further – the knowledge that by giving of our time and talent to make a difference this November, we are preserving our God-given right to liberty and a government that is useful to us, not harmful.