Essay on Absolutism

In today's society the government has limited power but back in the 1600 and 1700s a popular idea developed called absolutism. Absolute rulers believed that they had the divine right to rule, meaning that God created the monarchy they ruled over; and they alone were God's representative on earth. In today's society there is a limited power set for the government this means that the government has limited power. This limited power is achieved by something called checks and balances and with this in place. This also puts a system where each of the three branches of government can limit the powers of the others. This way, not one branch is too powerful. People may argue that having an absolute monarchy is the way a society should be ruled and in some countries today there are absolute rulers for example Brunei, Eswatini, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the Vatican City, but this is not the way to run society. There should be a system in place like checks and balances to prevent  one branch of government from having too much power then the rest of the branches.

The idea of an absolute government was most popular during the 1600 - 1700s and most of the absolute monarchies failed because the King had too much power and people in society did not have a say in the government like today. Charles I  in his statement before his execution talked about how people in society should have liberty and freedom and that he truly desired that for the people. He also talked about how this freedom should not be correlated to the government. He thought that they would not enjoy themselves. Because of this he took all the power and he changed all the laws according to the power of the sword. In the United States today and in most countries people have a say in the laws and what the government does, and there are multiple branches of government in place so that they can maintain the balance of power between the branches.

An absolute ruler thought that they were chosen by god so they took all of the power in society. In most absolute monarchies people did not choose their rulers. Bishop Jacques Benugne Bossuet in his treatise on politics talks about how monarchs were chosen by god he says that “the royal throne is not the throne of a man, but the throne of god himself”.  The thought that the monarch was chosen by god himself gives the king total power. He also says that “the prince need render no account to anyone for the orders he gives”. This meant because the king was chosen by god that he could give what orders he wanted and did not need the consent from anyone. People would have to follow the orders of the king or the prince without question. The idea that monarchs were chosen by god takes away the freedom of the people in society. Absolutism strips away the freedom in society and does not accommodate society's wants and needs. Society is ruled by the king and whatever he wants. That's what society will have to deal with.

An absolute society only benefited the person in power; it did not benefit the people in society. John Locke's Second treatise on government talks about why an absolute monarchy is arbitrary power. John Locke second treatise of government talks about why people should not have an absolute ruler he disagrees with the ideas of people like king Charles and bishop Jacques he thought people should have a say in the government and he also thought whatever laws the king makes it should benefit society as a whole. This is what we see today in most societies: the government does not pass laws to benefit themselves, they pass laws to benefit the people. Also people today gets to choose their president because of people like John Locke. Government today is much more effective in society then back then when an absolute government was a big thing. A limited power government does not sttrip the people of there freedom and people have a voice in politics and they have a say in how society should move forward.

Although people will think Absolutism is still how a monarchy should run, that is not the case. Absolutism for the short time it was used showed major ineffectiveness and was not efficient. Society should be ruled by a limited power government. People should have the freedom to choose their monarch and they should be able to have a say in the government and laws that are passed. Although there are some countries like swaziland that still use an absolute monarchy this is detrimental to the people in that country and shows how innifective an absolute society is. Absolutism should not be used in any society it will make the country deteriorate and there will be no structure in their government.