Thoreau's ethical philosophy and environmental thought

Thoreau (ethic Studies)

How Thoreau sees the government: His vision of justice

Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience" was written after the Transcendentalist author was imprisoned for refusing to pay his taxes in protest against the Mexican-American War. In his essay, Thoreau demanded that America become once again a truly free government, for the people and by the people. Thoreau believed in minimal government, given that all government leaders tend to set policy based upon their own interests, not true justice. The Founding Fathers had wanted the American government to have relatively little power, to avoid the new nation descending into European-style tyranny. But Thoreau believed that America's new, expansionist policy was an example of the fact that America had forgotten that the government that governs best, governs least (or not at all).

Government should merely exist to serve the people, not its own ends, argues Thoreau. Given this idea, slavery is immoral, as it deprives people of their liberty. When a government acts against the principles of the people, it should be resisted and overthrown. That is what the Founding Fathers did, in resistance to the British Crown. So why are not more Americans doing the same thing, in opposition to the American government's support of slavery and its immoral war against Mexico, asks Thoreau? People say that they cannot do anything, but they can.

Thoreau is profoundly distrustful of the conventional democratic process. He compares voting to gambling. Voting does not do something concrete to change people's lives. You cast a vote, and hope that the person you vote for does what he says he will do. Thoreau sees his refusal to pay taxes as a more meaningful, concrete way of enacting change in the real world. By refusing to pay taxes, he is depriving what he sees as an immoral government of the tools through which it can wage war and oppress people.

What is so interesting about Thoreau's argument is how it is very different from how we debate government today. Today, advocates of minimal government often are conservatives, who stress that the government should not act to protect the liberties of minorities in an activist fashion, for fear of making the government too powerful. Conservatives are also traditionally more pro-military than liberals. Thoreau's anti-imperialist stance, combined with his hatred of slavery might seem to brand him as a conservative, but he uses arguments for minimal government to advance what we would call liberal causes, namely the acknowledgement of Mexican sovereignty and upholding the rights of the African-American minority, versus states rights.