In the views of Jefferson it is “the consent of the governed” that provide the government the power to govern and to enact laws and to perform other administrative activities to ensure the basic rights of the people. The essential purpose of establishing the Governments, in the eyes of Jefferson, is to serve the people and that is why the assent of the people is crucial to make the government legitimate. The declaration of independence vividly states, “ that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such forms, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” At whatever point any type of government gets to be ruinous of the rights of the people, it is the privilege of the individuals to change or to overthrow it, and to instill new government at its place and formulate its powers in such a structures, as to them might appear well on the way to influence their wellbeing.
As for Mao the essence of political power that a state enjoys can only be derived from the working class. In the words of Mao, “The basic power of the state is in the hands of the working people led by the preliterate.” On broader sense both the Jefferson and Mao agrees that it is the people that are the source for the legitimacy of the government and a government that continuously fails to secure the basic rights of its population loses its legitimacy. The only difference between Jefferson’s views and that of Mao is that according to Jefferson consent of all the people as a whole is necessary to have a government while for Mao it is only the consent of the working class that is the source of power of a government and only the consent of preliterate is necessary in this regard.
Works Cited
Jefferson, Thomas. "The Declaration of Independence." 1776. Print.
