Mohammed Hasnat
Global PD 8
11/19/14
Argumentative Essay

Should the people control the government, or should the government control the people? Should the people control the government, or should the government control the people? A question many people ask. Well, to answer that the definition of government needs to be known. By definition, Government is those who has supreme authority over people and land. Now, government comes in different forms. It can be an absolute monarchy where the king rules all, such as Peter the Great of Russia or King Louis XIV of France. It can also be where a group of people represented by the general population is given the power to rule over everyone. One such example would be the National Assembly created during the start of the French revolution. Some may say that the government or these absolute rulers should control the people, but others believe that the people with their right should control the government. The people should not be controlled by an absolute ruler who makes up the country’s entire government, but should be governed by a group of people which the people themselves appoint; Democratic republic. During the rule of Absolutism, kings would make their own laws without the decision of anyone else but himself. No citizen of his had a say in his ruling, which led the hatred towards his laws. On example of this would be Peter the great’s ruling of Russia. Peter the great tried to modernize the entire country of Russia by forcing his people to adopt Western Culture, which many showed hatred toward this idea. Thus, if the people were able to express their Natural Rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, then they will be able to make laws for that are not biased nor corrupt. Many philosophers believed in this concept. One famous philosopher by the name John Locke believed that the natural rights were inalienable, and that the rule of God therefore superseded government authority. Some argue that when the people are able to exercise their natural rights in the government, they get power hungry and cause corruption in the government and in society. For example, during the French Revolution, when the 3rd estate was once free from the king’s rule, they wanted to kill their enemies; everyone going against the revolution. The national assembly was known to be the "revolutionary government” who believed that they owed the good citizens all the protection of the nation, but it owes nothing but death towards the ones who have treated the people