Civil Disobedience By Henry David Thoreau: Article Analysis

Superior Essays
“Government is best which governs least” according to the article “Civil Disobedience,” by Henry David Thoreau. In this article, Thoreau also mentioned that he believes that government is best when it governs not at all. However when a government governs not at all, then there exist chaos and war. But a government that governs least is a government that many people will agree is the best type of government. This type of government allows people absolute freedom. Not freedom per say, but absolute individual liberty. The government’s interest should be to protect the people’s liberty and not prevent people from living their lives. The government that only cares about its citizen’s happiness and well being is in fact the government with the happiest …show more content…
A good government is the government that tells the people its plans when it comes to its involvement with issue that can cause war. In the Article “The NSA Deserves a Permanent Shutdown”, Norman Solomon writes “To the people in control of the executive branch, violating our civil liberties is an essential government service. So -- to ensure total fulfillment of Big Brother 's vast responsibilities -- the National Security Agency is insulated from any fiscal disruption.” Sometimes Big Brothers needs to stop being Big Brothers. Being too protect might cause people to act out. The story of Edward Snowden is a proof that the government secretly conceal things that they know will cause wars between countries. Edward Snowden is a 30 year old NSA employer who leaked a secret document file to Hong Kong and now he has been charged for treason. According to NBC news on the interview held with Edward Snowden “inside the mind of Edward Snowden” the reports say that the government claims that “[Many Whistleblowers] have done significant and irreversible damage to the nation there is concrete proof the terrorist groups and others are taking action and making changes and its making our jobs together and this amount to telling or enemy our enemy our playbook.” However after months after that Snowden incident, there have not been a single terrorist attack made on the United States. Edward Snowden explains that “National security has been harmed, he was going to put American lives at risk, but we had so many years, decades since Daniel Ellsberg … but none of that had come to pass.” Snowden describes the government’s action as “exploiting the national trauma that we all suffer and work so hard to come thru” with this the government create a “justify programs that have never been shown to keep us safe but [this programs] cost us liberties and freedoms that we don’t need to give up

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