Henry David Thoreau: Civil Disobedience

I don't agree with the motto, "That government is best which governs least" because I think that we do need a relatively strong, stable government in order to run a country. I do think, though, that people should be able to govern themselves THROUGH this government. I also don't think that the government is completely corrupt like Mr. Thoreau basically states, although certain parts of it may be and we as a nation need to help to fix that.

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

As a high standing merchant in Boston, I absolutely cannot stand the Townshend Acts! I
import everything from paper to china to paint to meat. And I get a lot of business, too! And since the tax is just on imports, and there’s a lot of imports, I have to pay quite a lot of money to get them and charge my customers a larger amount of money. I bet they aren’t too fond of that. I have also been searched quite a few times for smuggled goods (thank God I had none) which caused upheaval and disarray upon the ships, taking a much much much longer time than expected to get into port!
And the Boston Massacre…absolutely tragic. I personally knew one of the men, too! Samuel Gray, RIP my dear friend. It was complete chaos! Those soldiers had no right to shoot into the crowd! I hope they are all sentenced to death! I mean, come on, sure the crowd was taunting them and rebelling, but they had a right to do it! Down with Britain and all that stand for it!
I hope we are free of those buffoons soon!

Sincerely,
Mr. Ralph Bogsbottom