Today, power operates differently. It is more diffuse and less visible. Authority is distributed across political institutions…and remains integrated hands of the elite.
Exploring Counter power as we can’t match force but we can resist , whilst building alternatives . Including our own sovereign power to choose the future we want . This is the best line in your excellent post for me…
“Counter Power today would not look like rebellion against a ruler, but disruption of systems that rely on continuous, cooperative participation. Where those systems coordinate could be potential choke points.”
While writing from the perspective of where I live, I know there are parallels globally. Who is really represented anywhere by government? Neoliberalism is a global hegemony. While we do find true democracy in some places, they are usually smaller populations.
And finding that balance is clearly a huge challenge that we as a global population are failing at. In a world with 8 billion people, central order for a always going to leave a lot of people unhappy. Likewise, the benefits of central leadership (when it works) are impossible to argue with. Not everything works efficiently on a small scale.
Henry Thoreau had the view that all government and taxation is unethical and degenerative regardless of whether it actually represents and enforces the will of the majority or not.
Rather than seek to reform the inherently imperialistic and immoral system of involuntary government, he decided to "quietly declare war with the State".
I think those of us that want to leave a future worth living in for future generations should follow in his example.
-----
“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, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the present war, 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.
The government does not keep the country free. It does not educate. The character inherent in the people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done more, if the government had not got in its way..
I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. 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.
Law never made men more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice. A common and natural result of an undue respect for law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys, and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, ay, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart.
They have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are concerned; they are all peaceably inclined.
Now, what are they? Men at all? or small movable forts and magazines, at the service of some unscrupulous man in power?
Visit the Navy-Yard, and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as it can make a man with its black arts,— a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity, a man laid out alive and standing, and already, as one may say, buried under arms with funeral accompaniments.
The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, and the militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well.
Such command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt.
They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs.
Others,—as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders,— serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are likely to serve the Devil.
..
How does it become a man to behave toward this American government to-day? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it.
All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable. But almost all say that such is not the case now.
All machines have their friction; But when oppression and robbery are organized, I say, let us not have such a machine any longer.
In other words, when a whole country is unjustly (…) subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize.
I quarrel not with far-off foes, but with those who, near at home, co-operate with, and do the bidding of, those far away, and without whom the latter would be harmless.
There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them; who, esteeming themselves children of Washington and Franklin, sit down with their hands in their pockets, and say that they know not what to do, and do nothing.
They hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes they petition; but they do nothing in earnest and with effect. They will wait, well disposed, for others to remedy the evil, that they may no longer have it to regret. At most, they give only a cheap vote.
The soldier is applauded who refuses to serves in an unjust war by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war; is applauded by those whose own act and authority he disregards and sets at naught.
Thus, under the name of Order and Government, we are all made at last to pay homage to and support our own meanness. After the first blush of sin comes its indifference; and from immoral it becomes, as it were, unmoral.
Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support, are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform.
Some are petitioning the State to dissolve the Union, to disregard the requisitions of the President. Why do they not dissolve it themselves,— the union between themselves and the State,— and refuse to pay their quota into its treasury?
If a man who has no property refuses but once to earn nine shillings for the State, he is put in prison for a period unlimited by any law that I know, and determined only by the discretion of those who placed him there.
If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.
Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.
If a thousand men were not to pay their tax-bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible. If the tax-gatherer, or any other public officer, asks me, as one has done, “But what shall I do?” my answer is, “If you really wish to do anything, resign your office.”
When the subject has refused allegiance, and the officer has resigned his office, then the revolution is accomplished. But even suppose blood should flow. Is there not a sort of blood shed when the conscience is wounded?
Through this wound a man’s real manhood and immortality flow out, and he bleeds to an everlasting death. I see this blood flowing now.
Thus the State never intentionally confronts a man’s sense, intellectual or moral, but only his body, his senses. It is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength.
I was not born to be forced.
When I meet a government which says to me, “Your money or your life,” why should I be in haste to give it my money?
As for supporting schools, I am doing my part to educate my fellow-countrymen now. It is for no particular item in the tax-bill that I refuse to pay it. I simply wish to refuse allegiance to the State. I do not care to trace the course of my dollar, if I could, till it buys a man or a musket to shoot one with,—-the dollar is innocent,—-but I am concerned to trace the effects of my allegiance.
In fact, I quietly declare war with the State.”
- Henry David Thoreau, 1849 (select excerpts from his essay on Civil Disobedience)
Spot on here, Justin.
Today, power operates differently. It is more diffuse and less visible. Authority is distributed across political institutions…and remains integrated hands of the elite.
Indeed. We can’t use the old playbook to thwart power. The strategy must evolve.
This looks like an opportune time for independent candidates or third parties, like Jill Stein who has excellent policies.
Exploring Counter power as we can’t match force but we can resist , whilst building alternatives . Including our own sovereign power to choose the future we want . This is the best line in your excellent post for me…
“Counter Power today would not look like rebellion against a ruler, but disruption of systems that rely on continuous, cooperative participation. Where those systems coordinate could be potential choke points.”
Nwtrcc.org
Great post, thanks for sharing. So much of the resonates well outside of the US, too.
While writing from the perspective of where I live, I know there are parallels globally. Who is really represented anywhere by government? Neoliberalism is a global hegemony. While we do find true democracy in some places, they are usually smaller populations.
And finding that balance is clearly a huge challenge that we as a global population are failing at. In a world with 8 billion people, central order for a always going to leave a lot of people unhappy. Likewise, the benefits of central leadership (when it works) are impossible to argue with. Not everything works efficiently on a small scale.
Henry Thoreau had the view that all government and taxation is unethical and degenerative regardless of whether it actually represents and enforces the will of the majority or not.
Rather than seek to reform the inherently imperialistic and immoral system of involuntary government, he decided to "quietly declare war with the State".
I think those of us that want to leave a future worth living in for future generations should follow in his example.
-----
“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, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the present war, 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.
The government does not keep the country free. It does not educate. The character inherent in the people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done more, if the government had not got in its way..
I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. 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.
Law never made men more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice. A common and natural result of an undue respect for law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys, and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, ay, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart.
They have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are concerned; they are all peaceably inclined.
Now, what are they? Men at all? or small movable forts and magazines, at the service of some unscrupulous man in power?
Visit the Navy-Yard, and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as it can make a man with its black arts,— a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity, a man laid out alive and standing, and already, as one may say, buried under arms with funeral accompaniments.
The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, and the militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well.
Such command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt.
They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs.
Others,—as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders,— serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are likely to serve the Devil.
..
How does it become a man to behave toward this American government to-day? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it.
All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable. But almost all say that such is not the case now.
All machines have their friction; But when oppression and robbery are organized, I say, let us not have such a machine any longer.
In other words, when a whole country is unjustly (…) subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize.
I quarrel not with far-off foes, but with those who, near at home, co-operate with, and do the bidding of, those far away, and without whom the latter would be harmless.
There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them; who, esteeming themselves children of Washington and Franklin, sit down with their hands in their pockets, and say that they know not what to do, and do nothing.
They hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes they petition; but they do nothing in earnest and with effect. They will wait, well disposed, for others to remedy the evil, that they may no longer have it to regret. At most, they give only a cheap vote.
The soldier is applauded who refuses to serves in an unjust war by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war; is applauded by those whose own act and authority he disregards and sets at naught.
Thus, under the name of Order and Government, we are all made at last to pay homage to and support our own meanness. After the first blush of sin comes its indifference; and from immoral it becomes, as it were, unmoral.
Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support, are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform.
Some are petitioning the State to dissolve the Union, to disregard the requisitions of the President. Why do they not dissolve it themselves,— the union between themselves and the State,— and refuse to pay their quota into its treasury?
If a man who has no property refuses but once to earn nine shillings for the State, he is put in prison for a period unlimited by any law that I know, and determined only by the discretion of those who placed him there.
If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.
Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine.
If a thousand men were not to pay their tax-bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible. If the tax-gatherer, or any other public officer, asks me, as one has done, “But what shall I do?” my answer is, “If you really wish to do anything, resign your office.”
When the subject has refused allegiance, and the officer has resigned his office, then the revolution is accomplished. But even suppose blood should flow. Is there not a sort of blood shed when the conscience is wounded?
Through this wound a man’s real manhood and immortality flow out, and he bleeds to an everlasting death. I see this blood flowing now.
Thus the State never intentionally confronts a man’s sense, intellectual or moral, but only his body, his senses. It is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength.
I was not born to be forced.
When I meet a government which says to me, “Your money or your life,” why should I be in haste to give it my money?
As for supporting schools, I am doing my part to educate my fellow-countrymen now. It is for no particular item in the tax-bill that I refuse to pay it. I simply wish to refuse allegiance to the State. I do not care to trace the course of my dollar, if I could, till it buys a man or a musket to shoot one with,—-the dollar is innocent,—-but I am concerned to trace the effects of my allegiance.
In fact, I quietly declare war with the State.”
- Henry David Thoreau, 1849 (select excerpts from his essay on Civil Disobedience)