Benefits of political obligation:

PO: a general obligation / obeying the law bc it's the law not for any moral/personal reason

locke, punishment:
- eventually resources will become scarce with the invention of money, employment, exchanging of goods etc.. this will create inequality -> inequality = violations of the law of nature
- w/o the state we are all free + equal SO have the right to punish as we see fit: this is problematic (bias = severity = unfair, lack of ability to administer punishments, hostility between ppl whoo disagree -> overall a bad idea)
- to solve this problem create the state: uniform punishment = fairer society -> protects society from those who break the law of nature
- living under a state protects our long-term interests (peace + stability) through creating uniform punishment -> SO better to obey SO don't get punished, than focus on short-term gain = less crime

hobbes: protection against violence
hume: co-operation: working as a team is more effective in getting what we need + want, more powerful as a team - stronger, more powerful. alone, we aren't v useful.