Locke, The Second Treatise I

From whence political authority?

Locke is a (perhaps the) fundamental thinker of the American regime. In Locke, government is based upon equality and rights, as opposed to virtue and prudence as it is for the ancients and even to some extent for Machiavelli. For Locke, there is a rough equality between the stupid and the smart; political prudence is not in and of itself a claim to rule, but merely one factor among many to be considered in the process of democratic selection. While we hope the stupid select the smart to rule, choosing the stupid is no less legitimate.