My Views on Civil Disobedience

Henry David Thoreau takes his views of government and expresses them through this essay. He starts off by saying "I heartily accept the motto, 'That government is best which governs least'..." I disagree with this quote, although, too much power to the government is never a good thing either. With no government people are free to do what they want, and there would be no direct way to communicate with foreign nations. Thoreau says it will work when people are prepared for it, but its not in human nature to be that good willed. Every person has faults and will eventually get the urge to steal something, or hurt somebody.

Henry David Thoreau then goes on to talk about how the government can do what they want. He uses the Mexican war as an example, and says that most people would not agree with their decision. "Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed on." I disagree with this quote also because I feel it is one-sided. The American government is a democracy and the people have a great say in what happens. The way Thoreau describes it makes it sound like a dictatorship, where the people have no say, and no rights. He constantly says that the government is expedient. Thoreau thinks that the government does what they want and it is in the best interest for themselves. This is not true because almost everything that may benefit the government, benefits the rest of the nation as well. "...they would deserve to be classed and punished with those mischievous persons who put obstructions on the railroads". Thoreau thinks the government has done so much wrong that they should be punished the way actual criminals are punished. To me, this seems a little bit harsh because the government never intentionally hurt anybody.