Civil Disobedience Questions

          A good citizen is someone who follows the laws and who actively participates in community activities.  A good citizen is someone who treats someone else with respect and who shows dignity for themselves and for their country.  Thoreau described a good citizen as someone who doesn’t always follow what the government has to say.  He thinks that people should be less governed. 

          An unjust law is a law that doesn’t make sense in following.  An unjust law would be a law that doesn’t benefit the people and it is just wrong and everyone would seem to think that too.  One can’t show respect for a law when breaking it.  In order to show respect for it you have to follow it.  I guess if you break it and realize you did and not deny it could partly be a form of respect.  If everyone acted according to their conscience our world would be crazy.  Laws are there for our safety.  Acting on conscience could also make a stand on the issue though.

          Dissent is not patriotic.  Some people that have led our country have had different opinions than the majority, and taken a stand for it, but it is not considered patriotic.  I think that it can sometimes be moral depending on the issue that it is based off upon. It can also be Christian as well. Americans have their freedom of choice so differing from everyone’s opinions can be considered American.

      No the mass of men do not serve the state as machines.  There is a wide variety of where and what men serve as. The state punishes people who follow their consciences. If it’s not the law they get punished. They may have a say in certain things, but it is pretty strict.

         We as citizens should be able to trust statesmen and legislators to tell us what is best for our state.  I think in certain situations some people do not trust them.  I think that statesmen should be allowed to define patriotism, a good citizen and justice, but I don’t think that they should define proper morality. They can define morality to an extent, but different people with different views on religion and such tend to differ than people who don’t.  I think there is a line where they can define morality.

      Thoreau’s opinion on wealth and consumption is that the wealthier a person is the more likely they are to show it and be prideful and think they are right, therefore they don’t have to follow the law. The wealthier a person is the more likely they are to be puffed up in pride he says which makes them think that they are right and that they don’t have to practice civil disobedience.  Economic class figure so centrally to the works of Thoreau, Gandhi, and the King, because in the time period where they grew up those issues were prevalent all of the time.  Thoreau grew up in the 1800’s and that was a major issue of that time.

         Martin Luther King, Jr. said “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor,” because the oppressor is someone who burdens the people with cruel or unjust restraints, and if someone is an oppressor they cannot voluntarily give freedom. An oppressor just doesn’t do that, and it is as simple as that.

       When the government grows so large and powerful that it can no longer be resisted effectively, I don’t think that we are still free.  I think that the government has taken over at that point when people don’t have the choice anymore.  Thoreau says that we should not have as strict of a government, and he says that the government that is most successful is the government that is governed the least.  I think when the state goes right to our income before we even see them that they are not being just and need to allow the people the opportunity to see where their money is going first before taking it away, so the people don’t freak out. We can resist the actions of the government by first voting for someone who you think would govern the state/country the best.  If we disagree with something that the government is doing we can take a stand and let others know that you think what they are doing is wrong.  We have that right in America.  A free state is a state that people are not afraid to voice their opinions and that their opinions are taken into consideration.  A free state is where people have the choice to choose their actions whether they are right or wrong.

         King dismantles the argument by writing this letter and addressing it. The four steps that he said were necessary in every nonviolent campaign were; collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. He said that his followers and allies have carried out these steps in seeking to achieve racial justice in Birmingham by doing things such as taking down racial signs and doing things that followed what he had to say.  He said that the immediate purpose to direct, nonviolent action is that people will take into consideration and start to follow what they have to say.

        People who seemingly undermine the values of society should be questioned yet respected at the same time, because they might have a reason behind their reasoning.  People should have a good so to say relationship with their community so that their voice will be heard and so that they are someone in the community.