Communism is an economic system where all property and the means of production are owned by the state. One of the driving forces of capitalism, ownership of private property, is completely eliminated in favor of (in theory) fairly distributing all property and economic goods.

A theocracy is a system of government ruled by a priest, or other religious figure, who claims to interpret the word of god when establishing laws and rules in the country. In a theocracy, the government is essentially a conduit for religious belief.

Despotism is another word for Autocracy. A Despot is an autocratic ruler, or a tyrant: someone who rules with absolute authority and who cannot be questioned or removed from power by legal means.

The economic and political system of feudalism arose after the fall of the Roman Empire. In the political and military vacuum created by Rome’s fall from power, there was a large number of people and groups contending for power. It was a time of brutal violence and great instability. To try to create stability, various rulers began to offer portions of land, or “fiefdoms,” to lesser rules, who could then have serfs work the land to provide food and income. The system of feudalism was effective because it promoted stability in a very violent time and offered protection in exchange for loyalty and subservience.

The Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution states that the Constitution should be considered as the supreme law of the land, and that everyone must respect the rules and laws contained within. This might seem obvious and unnecessary to us now, but it is important to remember that when the Constitution was written there was no guarantee as to how it would be received or whether the people would unquestionably follow it.

Separation of powers refers to the fact that in the United States government there are three branches—the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial—each of which controls certain functions of government. Freedom of religion is enshrined in the United States Constitution. Federalism refers to the sharing of powers between the state and the national government and is a key component of the American political system. Only economic equality is not central to the American political system. What we have in America, in theory, is equal economic opportunity, but in a capitalist system you cannot have economic equality, which is a core component of communism and socialism.

In the United States Constitution there are certain powers reserved for either the State governments or the Federal government; however, there are also concurrent powers. These are powers shared by both the State and Federal governments: one example is the power to levy taxes.

The English Bill of Rights was passed in 1689, following the accession of William and Mary after the Glorious Revolution, in which James II was ousted from power. For much of the seventeenth century, the English monarchy and parliament were at constant odds with one another, and after a Civil War resulted in parliamentary victory, the Kings of England would never have the same power again. The English Bill of Rights established limits on the powers of the monarchy and reserved powers for Parliament. It is considered a precursor to the American Bill of Rights and probably the most important document of the uncodified English Constitution.

John Locke believed in a social contract between rulers and ruled that heavily limits the power of the ruler and provides inalienable rights for the ruled. Although Locke, by modern standards was still somewhat conservative about human nature (he still favored monarchy over democracy) in his own time Locke was about as liberal as it was possible to be about human nature and political theory (without being considered dangerously insane). Hobbes, on the other hand, was a renowned pessimist about the human condition and an even more renowned royalist. Hobbes fled England during the Civil War, and upon his return published his most famous work, The Leviathan, which outlines Hobbes’ belief that life is nasty, brutish, and short, and that in a state of nature mankind would rip itself to shreds. A strong, absolute government was needed to enforce law and order. Together, their views helped shape generations of politicians’ viewpoints, but compared to one another they were chalk and cheese.

John Locke was an Enlightenment-Era philosopher. His writings were hugely influential to the Constitutional Framers of the United States. His liberal views on inalienable rights of all people to "life, liberty, and property" might make it seem like Locke would support direct democracy, or at least republicanism, but Locke was a man of his time as well. He believed that the best government was a constitutional monarchy, one where there is a king whose power is heavily limited by constitutional obligations to provide for the fair and just treatment of his citizens. Essentially, Locke believed that the king only held the power to rule if those ruled consented to it.