Civil Disobedience

Is it better for a government to govern under salutary neglect? Or, should a government watch their country like a hawk stalking its prey? “Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe, --- That government is best which governs not at all” (Part 1, Paragraph 1). It seems that Thoreau can concur with this statement very closely. Thoreau reveals his tone of anger and disapproval. I personally can’t say that I agree. Yes, our government has problems, needs construction, and is not perfect, but without it our country would be in shambles. People have so many different concepts on how the country should be run that all these ideas would soon clash together. This wouldn’t unite the country. One purpose as a nation is to have unity among all the people you share a country with. Disarray and the disagreements will in turn result in rebellion.
“All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable” (Part 1, Paragraph 8). Just because Americans are aware of their use to revolutionize and rebel, that doesn’t mean that every time they don’t like something the government does that it is time to revolt. If that were the case there would be a war every day out of the year. I know as an American citizen that wouldn’t be good for our nation and as individuals. The government would probably have to come to the people to get money and pay off national debts. That will cause another reason to rise up and fight against the government creating more confusion within the nation. Sometimes government has good reasons for doing some things that it does.
On the other hand, I am in agreement with Thoreau’s tone of disapproval. “Some years ago, the State met me in behalf of the Church, and commanded me to pay a certain sum toward the support of a clergyman whose preaching my father attended, but never myself…I declined to pay” (Part 2, Paragraph 12). This would be one of those events where one should resist the demands of the government. There was no reason for Thoreau to pay a tax to a church he didn’t attend. One has to know when the right time to voice their opinion. Surely he was not happy with the government’s decision to put this tax on him so he did something about it.
Through the whole passage Thoreau conveys this tone of anger towards the government for the actions that they take. He doesn’t believe that it is needed and it needs to remove itself. “It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate” (Part 1, Paragraph 2). The government does not do anything that is supposed to do and that frustrates Thoreau. He assumes that the government is just there for the benefit of itself. It wants control and money and that is exactly what it is going to get from the American citizens.