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ORIGINAL work |
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What is civil disobedience? Civil disobedience is the deliberate and public refusal to obey a law. People refuse to obey laws that they believe go against their personal principles. Many times throughout the course of history civil disobedience has been used as a non-violent means to show disapproval of laws. For example, even the disciples of Jesus Christ practiced civil disobedience stating that they would obey God rather than mortals. In addition to this Saint Thomas Aquinas argued that people must disobey earthly rulers when the laws of the state disagree with the laws of nature, or God. In more recent history, civil disobedience was used in the United States during the civil rights movement. It was said that citizens are obligated to disobey laws they consider unjust. |
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| During the mid 1800’s Henry David Thoreau, a very influential American writer, was an avid supporter of a certain philosophy. This philosophy is known as Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism "is based on the belief that knowledge is not limited to and solely derived from experience and observation." It also stated that "the solution to human problems lies in the free development of individual emotions." From this philosophy, Thoreau wrote a paper entitled "Civil Disobedience". In the first paragraph he states, "I heartily accept the motto, ‘That government is best which governs least’; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe—‘That government is best which governs not at all’; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which the will have." | ||
| If a government implements laws, which are not moral or ethical, what responsibility does one have to follow them? In Nazi Germany Adolph Hitler’s government passed laws calling for the extermination of Jews and other groups. Now would one be led to believe that because it is the law of the land, one must follow it? There are provisions in the Constitution of the United States, which protect the right of dissent and protest. This is because the Framers of the Constitution did not trust government, and knew that without the right of the people to keep the government in check, a truly just government could not be kept. | ||
| On the other side of the fence, the argument that civil disobedience is an excuse for an individual to break any law he or she chooses, which will lead to anarchy, is completely inaccurate and is an unfair generalization. To say that because there is the possibility that it will be abused and therefore should not be allowed is absurd. It is the same excuse one could use for anything. Because there is the possibility of an abuse is not a justifiable stance to label civil disobedience as anarchy. | ||
| In conclusion, the principle of civil disobedience is one that is not only valid, but also essential to a society. During the war crimes trials at Nuremberg after World War II, "established the principle that an individual may, under certain circumstances, be held accountable for failure to break the laws of his country." I can think of no other way to summarize the necessity of civil disobedience than to direct one to the arguments, which I have proposed today. | ||
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| The Bin of Thoughts and it's original text/graphics are © 1999, 2000 Aaron Wesley. All rights reserved. | |
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