Journal #4

Michelle Romero Dr. Scott Lankford
Eng. 48A

Author: Henry David Thoreau
Resistance to Civil Government

"For government is an expedient by which men would fain succeed in letting one another along; and, as has been said when it is most expedient, the governed are most let alone by it. Trade and commerce, if they were not made of India rubber, would never manage to bounce over the obstacles which legislators are continually putting in their way..." (Thoreau 1858).

The above quoted passage is Thoreau spouting off his ideas about the role of government in a capitalist economy.

Thoreau clearly feels the government should take a laissez-faire approach when it comes to just about everything! In this passage, he uses American business to illustrate a hypothetical situation in which the government ruins production with its stupidity. He suggests that legislators are simply busy throwing "obstacles" in the way of progress and his tone is rather condescending. He undermines the authoritative pedestal on which Americans have placed its lawmakers.

I think this passage is so American and speaks to the rebel in us all. Thoreau is basically comparing their old England government to the one they have created and calling them all the same. The early Americans came from a country with an oppressive government, one which imposed its authority on its subjects in all matters. Now, here is Thoreau basically saying the American government is just as useless and even harmful to the freedom of its new citizens.

Those first settlers came to this country to find freedom of religion and to separate themselves, to live a life they could be free to live. Thoreau is calling his readers to look at their present situation twice over and not let the same thing happen to them twice, finding themselves under a governing body of oppressive authority where their freedom is threatened. He urges them to always move toward progress without heed to any theoretical machine.

On the other hand, his passage is a little on the radical side. Thoreau does not often sound middle of the road and sometimes to weight both sides of the issue is beneficial and also necessary. In this case, he says that US legislators would hinder business, but today (as he suspected) we have all these government regulations and federal commissions to monitor businesses and make sure that products do not impose health risks and so forth. Today, we might say that although these regulations may pose an inconvenience, they also help to guard consumers from greedy business owners.

Nonetheless, Thoreau makes his own point clear. I just don’t know if I agree with him.