According to Thoreau, ‘gvt best which governs least’ & ‘not at all’ -> paradoxical contradict°.

Means
responsibility to secure certain fundamental rights, security & rights of citizens to life, liberty &
pursuit of happiness, but gvt should not interfere w all aspects of life, should work for greater good.
Ideal/practical roles of gvt.

Gvt must be an ‘expedient’, meaning a means to an end. Gvts are ‘inexpedient’, i.e inefficient. Gvt
should not be self-serving structure, should not defend ideas & privileges of ruling class. In most gvts,
growing inability to play moral role, generally corrupt. Gvt meant to serve purpose defined by
American people.

Analogy standing army/gvt -> stressing inexpediency of gvt.

Watchmaker & wooden gun metaphors speak to usefulness of gvt. Gvt imposes limits on individual
liberties. Wooden gun offers sense of security, albeit false. Federal gvt unites nation, bringing all
states 2g. Individual vitality, though – best person to defend your interests is you, not your gvt.

Majority rule brings about party politics & will never afford possibility for mediat° of justice bc
individuals who belong to pol minorites will be at disadvantage, shall have to abide by laws
detrimental to them. Elected politicians should vote laws according to their conscience and only on
subjects on which expedient. Not all domains should be regulated by gvt, some must be left to
appreciation of individual citizens based on own moral cs.

In voting & obeying laws, we must be men first and subjects after. Law dehumanizes according to
Thoreau, bc obeying law does not involve you putting your moral csness to any sort of use.

Marine is automaton working for the gvt, molded based on expectations.

Sacrifice of life is waste of life – Thoreau disapproves Sir John Moore’s fate and attitude at the
debacle of Corunna. No reward or purpose, you are victimized/oppressed by expectations put on you
by gvt.

§5: Thoreau reinforces paradox between justice & law.

Thoreau calls civil servants ‘wooden men’, ‘men of straw’, ‘lumps of dirt’ -> not meliorative, quite
derogatory. These men described as inanimate objects, clearly made of a material that can be
manipulated, moldy bc molded. Conscienceless apparatus of gvt, domesticated, like a horse or a dog,
who work wo thinking, relying mostly on bodily strength. Jailors, constables, standing army…
represent coercive body of gvt, are law enforcement.

Civil servants, serving God or the Devil, are constant in their service: no morality whatsoever.

Thoreau calls ‘men’ those people who obey the gvt.

Louis le Dauphin from King John (about confrontat° between English and French kings in context of
struggle for power), wherefrom quote -> in America, reformers are kings, obeying whom should not
be a man’s duty and destiny. Moral citizens should not be subservient to rule of law, too ‘high-born’
to be property.

Thoreau calls his gvt ‘slave’ gvt; alluding to 1846 evt: pdt Polk asked Congress to pass bill that would
put aside $2M. Prospect was future negotiation of terms of treaty with Mexico once war over. A
senator proposed an amendment, which provided for interdict° to practice slavery in future
American territories that might be acquired, bought from Mexico. Amendment called ‘Wilmot
Proviso’ & failed, blocked by Senate, mostly composed of Southerners. That failure enflamed
controversy over slavery.
Moral man should exercise their right to revolutionize – grounds his analysis in pol reality, alluding to
declaration of independence.

All machines have their friction… when friction come to have their machines -> what do