What follows is an
essay I had to write about Civil Disobedience for high school
English class, during I think my
sophomore year. I was just going through all my old
stuff, found this, and decided to
node it. I was a stupid
high schooler then, as opposed to being just
stupid now, so read it as such, and not necessarily as an essasy on Thoreau. It can't be that bad, I passed the class. I present it to you now exactly as it was submitted to my english teacher way backwhever, except I added in the hard-links.
Civil Disobedience
In the beginning, Thoreau starts off by telling us, that essentially, government is a "can't live with it, can't live without it" situation. He does admit that government can be good, in fact necessary, but Thoreau takes issue with the goodness of the very existence of government itself. He sees government as an obstacle that man will have to overcome, as "when they are ready" man will not need it anymore. Thoreau then turns his attention to the military, telling us that soldiers do not serve their country "as men", but instead as machines. Thoreau has a very special definition of what is it to be a man, and he seems especially bothered by the military, seeing it as a symbol of oppression for this country, and what makes a man not a man. What Thoreau really gets into later though, is that what makes a man not a man is not being an individual, and he tells us in the end that the ideal government will not be one that sees majorities and minorities, but one that treats each individual as they deserve. Along these lines, Thoreau tells us that "we should be men first, and subjects second".
Thoreau also writes about the concept of majority rule, providing some interesting insight into it. He claims that majority rule was not instituted because they would be the most fair, but simply because the majority has the most power, and power wins.
Another thing that Thoreau sees as making men not men, is indifference. He is very passionate about doing more than just standing up for your rights, he sees it as the goal for everybody, and that indifference is the bane of this nation. He sees good men as being one in a thousand. Indifference, according to him, is more often than not a vote for the wrong side.
Finally, Thoreau makes known his dislike of slavery, and the war in Mexico (which is a little harder to pick up) which seems to fit right in with the rest of his views. He also talks about his time in jail, and how he spent it gladly, because he believed that he should not pay taxes that finance wars. It should be noted that he has no problems with paying the other taxes, such as for the schools and roads. The whole point of this was really to highlight the importance of being an individual, and to do what is right, always searching for the best answer for yourself.