Politics

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” – Henry David Thoreau, Walden

“The fact which the politician faces is merely that there is less honor among thieves than was supposed, and not the fact that they are thieves.”‘ – Henry David Thoreau, “Slavery in Massachusetts”

“Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.” – Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

“The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right. It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience.” ― Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience and Other Essays

“If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law”
― Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience and Other Essays

I HEARTILY ACCEPT the motto, — “That government is best which governs least”;(1) 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 they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. 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. – Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience and Other Essays

Photo by: Krista Lamoreaux  (her son, Björn, on the steps of the Capitol)