By this time, slavery is a very hotly debated issue in America, even eventually leading to the Civil War. Thoreau obviously takes the position against slavery and tries to use his writing to try and convince the citizens of America to stand up against slavery and the laws that protect it. Thoreau often writes of the injustice that the government displays towards its people. For example, Thoreau writes, “Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them?” (184). Thoreau’s purpose is to convince the citizens of America to not follow the majority, but do what is felt to be morally right.
Glenn Tinder: Are Human Beings Estranged in Essence? Glenn Tinder in Political Thinking raises such questions needing reconciliation. When presented with Tinder’s questions, I was confronted with overcoming estrangement as a political issue. “Are human beings estranged in essence?” presented the most precedence of all the questions in the book. I view overcoming estrangement as a path towards conformity because overcoming estrangement requires abolishing our freedom and liberty, our free will.
The first thing to recognize is an unjust law is in a statute book. It will be continued to be applied and enforced until that law is abrogated. In societies where such laws are prevalent, people are exposed to injustice because the court will also enforce such unjust laws. An unjust law can be removed when civil society organizations and the people begin to speak against such unjust law. Not only that, those
Civil Disobedience Civil disobedience dates back to the formation of the government organization, where the written constitution was formed. The written constitution is basically a contract between the government, and the people in which it sets forth laws and protects individual right. The framework of the laws, and rights set forth in the constitution is what makes the government orderly. Without order the United States would have an increase in all levels of crime and evil. Henry David Thoreau believed the government to be an unjust institution; he believed people should first do what they think is right, and not abide by the laws of the government.
In the article titled “The Folly of Capital Punishment”, Jeffrey Reinam concludes that capital punishment is immoral to our society; and thus, should not be legalized. Reinam reasons the death penalty is unjust, inhuman, and goes against the progress of civilization. Reinam’s primary argument and rebuttal to Ernest Van Den Haags deterrence argument, is that the death penalty goes against the advancement of civilization. Reinam explains that throughout history we take steps to "lower tolerance for one's own pain and that suffered by others". Due to the states high visibility, size, and moral authority, it is capable to have an impact on citizens beyond the immediate act it authorizes.
In a representative democracy it is important to “guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the unjustice of the other part.” (Madison) The republic protects the rights of the people and varying minority factions. Madison recognizes that under the Constitution, society is divided into many groups of people that hold different views and different interests. The more minority groups, the harder it is for one large group to dominate or threaten the minority. Madison also speaks out against a confederal system of government. He, and the framers of the constitution, believed that in a confederal system that the states may have more power.
AP Global Summer Assignment “That government is best which governs not at all”. This statement was made by Henry David Thoreau in his book Civil Disobedience expressing his argument not for a removal of the government, but for an improved one. What Thoreau believed was that people should not be governed by a government that serves in their own interest, but instead by a government that works for the people. Thoreau demonstrates his want for a better government by demonstrating the faults of the current government and expresses his opinions as a citizen. Civil Disobedience was written in 1849, during the Mexican American War.
Thoreau’s essay, “Civil Disobedience”, describes his idea of rebellion against laws he felt were unnecessary or unjust. He says that not following a law he doesn’t believe in is the most effective way to show the government and lawmakers what he stands for. “Civil
A form of civil disobedience that both individuals and a group of rogues practice, reading appears as a subversive act capable of undermining the social order. Thus, for those who fight the totalitarian government seek the healing of the nations and an end to oppression and mass ignorance. Rather than bear arms, they bear books. As a work much like Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience/' which calls for blatant challenging of the status quo, Fahrenheit 451 challenges the institutions that encompass our lives and demonstrates literature's ability to cultivate human autonomy. Criticism of Bradbury's works, specifically Fahrenheit 451 can easily be divided into two categories: criticism of the work as literature and criticism of the work as science fiction.
In Ursula K Le Guins' story "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" and "Why The Future Doesn't Need Us" by Bill Joy, both authors conclude that individual freedom endangers the safety and well being of society. Individual freedom demands individual responsibility if their society is to remain safe. This point is explored from different views in the respective works, and while Le Guin puts the power in the most underprivileged, Joy shows the destruction in the hands of the elite. Both agree that the end result of irresponsible freedom of individuals could lead to the destruction of society both physically and socially. "I do not know the rules and laws of their society, but I suspect that they are singularly few" (Le Guin, Ursula K. "The ones who walk away from Omelas").