Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.
 Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience (1849). copy citation

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Author Henry David Thoreau
Source Civil Disobedience
Topic respect democracy government
Date 1849
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/71/71-h/71-h.htm

Context

“Trade and commerce, if they were not made of India rubber, would never manage to bounce over obstacles which legislators are continually putting in their way; and, if one were to judge these men wholly by the effects of their actions, and not partly by their intentions, they would deserve to be classed and punished with those mischievous persons who put obstructions on the railroads.
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. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.
After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule, is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest.” source

Meaning and analysis

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