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
Consider also:
- “the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure”
- “But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government.”
- “I may dislike this quality in him so much that I am willing to kill him as the only cure; and he is equally right to kill me if he dislikes the color of my necktie. How many people were killed because they wanted to spell ‘Homoousios,’ ‘Homoiousios’ with the iota?”
- “It was as if one of these people–he always thought of them as ‘these people,’ much as he had grown to like and to admire them–should find himself dealing with a group of very alert and resourceful chimpanzees.”
- “The tools here are most useful under pressure. First, because they stop us from only reacting. They bring focus. They help us resist the takeover of the lizard brain. They remind us what sets us apart: We think. Lastly, they’ve been tested in a variety of environments with a variety of people. With varying levels of complexity. Different situations, different people, different needs. Bottom line: They work.”
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