Restraints on the Popular Will - Essay Example

Bolivar was a staunch critic of monarchies and so were Rousseau and Locke. Rousseau in his famous work, The Social Contract, defended the argument for civil liberty and the popular will against divine right which facilitated the French Revolution. John Locke as well attacked the theory of the divine right of kings and claimed that sovereignty did not reside within the state but with the people. Both also asserted that the right to freedom of people stemmed from the natural law, to which Bolivar himself was a precursor of liberation in his beloved countries.

Liberal democracy to Bolivar was insufficient and so he relies on Plato and Cicero as well. Plato’s major work, The Republic, is concerned with the theme of justice and the use of Greek virtues such as temperance and courage to achieve the ideal state. Cicero, the great Roman orator, further advanced this idea by composing works that tackle the natural obligation of men to serve others and dedicate themselves to public service and ascribes to the value of the laws that are followed by its citizens.

One could say that Bolivar was a centrist due to the balance of the rights and duties of the state to its citizens and its citizens to the state. And in this idea of solidarity and subsidiarity is where Bolivar’s true value lies.