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01-28-2009, 11:12 PM
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#1 (permalink) |
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Shitousan
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 5,404
Internets: 53206
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More Thoreau
I know there are a lot of libertarians on this board, so I thought I might recommend the text: Resistance to civil government
Thoreau - Webtext on "Resistance to Civil Government" It's amazing how relevant this essay is today. Some of my favorite quotes: "I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right." "The soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in an unjust war by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war..." "The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it." "I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right." "A common and natural result of an undue respect for the law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys Definition, and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, aye, against their common sense and consciences..." "A very few—-as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men—-serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it.Note A wise man will only be useful as a man, and will not submit to be "clay..." "What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn." "A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority..." Anyway, you get the idea. Enjoy. |
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Last edited by Repugnant Abomination; 01-28-2009 at 11:25 PM. |
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