He writes in the Leviathan, “The desires and other passions of men aren’t sinful in themselves. Hobbes believed the role of the state was to create and enforce law. Many political theorists to this day struggle to understand how the state can exist without law. Hannah Arendt defined totalitarianism as the presence of the state in the absence of law. And these temptations represent a serious threat to democratic governance. But there remain temptations to undermine the law. This brings about the possibility for democracy. This distinction is often lost because the rule of law aligns the power of the state with the aims of the law. Their authority is derived not from the law but from the state. The police, for example, only have an indirect relationship to the law.
Yet few discuss its philosophical ramifications. There is an important distinction between the two. The problem is they confuse the concept of state power and law. It is peculiar though how the two presidents known for their personal ambivalence toward the law saw their own role in the embodiment of the law.
Like Richard Nixon, Donald Trump has called himself the President of law and order. Many have drawn parallels to the protests and riots of 1968. The United States continues to face widespread protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
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