Ralph Waldo Emerson's Civil Disobedience

In Emerson’s Civil Disobedience, he suggests that “Government is best which governs not at all” (pg 265). This is simply untrue and ignorant. The sad but true fact of humanity is we are all not inherently good, instead our own morals and circumstances govern our conception of “good” and “bad”. Some humans believe theft and murder is justifiable and morally sound, while others realize this barbaric behavior is only fit for a state occupied by a single soul. Because of this, a society ungoverned is not a society at all. Instead it would be a chaotic wasteland of people struggling to survive on our own, only adhering to the rules which allow their own survival. Instinct drives us to do what is necessary to survive, and without laws barring us …show more content…
However the government acts as the mediator, this is what it is created to do. The government is established to make sure the society runs smoothly, and puts in place rules which protect us from each other while allowing us all our own survival. Without the government there would be no mediator, and selfish human instinct would once again take its course and destroy the society. Therefor, Emerson’s belief that government should not be established in society, is not only false, but preposterous.

“What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think”(pg 231). This single line, taken from Emerson’s Self Reliance, is a message being preached persistently in today’s society. I constantly hear celebrities reverberating this idea in the media through phrases like “Be yourself!”, and “You do you!”. There is a movement of self appreciation today that is long overdue, and I believe Emerson was one of the founders of this movement. The idea that the only judgement in your life should be from within leaks out of pages of Self Reliance, by insisting conformity …show more content…
The most harmful thing one can do to themselves is delve into your memories and pick out all the little moments which you wish you could change. Emerson’s message to “Live ever in a new day”(page 232) has done me a lot of good in improving my day to day mood. I try my best to adhere to this rule, to let the past be the past and live in the now. One of my favorite quotes of all time is “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift; thats why they call it the present”. By taking advantage of the present and prevent yourself from drowning yourself in “what if I had done this....”, you can utilize every second of the day at