Causes Of Civil Disobedience

The relationship between the citizens and the state can be traced back to the beginning of civilizations on Earth. Mankind has witnessed civilizations fall, dictators rule, leaders rise above all, and slaves reduced to nothing but property. Throughout these events, in response, citizens rebelled either peacefully, or aggressively. For instance, the United States was founded after a revolution in which the oppressed rebelled against the oppressor; which was Great Britain at the time. King George III caused feelings of anger within those who lived in the colonies of North America. Because of feelings of oppression, those who lived in the colonies utilized that anger to motivate themselves in the fight against the British Empire. Rebellion

This may lead to arguments claiming that due to its danger, one should not protest against their own government. However, this is answered in Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience when he brings up the point that if no one does it, who will? The danger that protesting holds cannot withstand the anger that the oppressed feel when they are rebelling. As Martin Luther King Jr. mentions in his Birmingham letter, “freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed”. Henry David brings up the point that there are people who are opposed to certain issues in the world and sit with their hands in their pockets too afraid to do anything, and claiming out in the open that they have no idea what to do. They wait, he claims, “for others to remedy the evil, that they may no longer have it to regret”. If one desires change, they must join in the fight to cause that change. Voting against a candidate, protesting against an unjust law, civically fighting against an unjust law, are all examples of exercising one’s civic duty. If one looks back to see how much change civil disobedience has caused, one would notice the massive differences between then and now. African-Americans are allowed to vote, they are considered Humans, and they are free from the chains of segregation in public areas. This was achieved through civil disobedience which Martin Luther King Jr., the

But there are also those who are displeased with the results, and who are currently exercising their right to protest in public. Those are the ones who are strong, and fearless enough, to go out into the world and protest against their government. They are the ones who do not sit around and allow others to “remedy the evil” for them. They are the ones who exercise their “Moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws”. And best of all, these are the people that know that one must fight for their own rights, for they will not be willingly granted to them. One may say that these protests are unnecessary due to their insignificance towards the fact that Donald Trump is, and will, be the President of the United States in January. However, these are the very ideas which Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry Thoreau both denounced. We mustn’t look at the immediate outcome protests may cause, but the future outcomes they may cause. These protests will be looked upon in the future by historians, and they will be praised even more if Donald Trump’s presidency produces a negative outcome. Just how every vote in an election counts, such as the one the United States just experienced, every protester for a massive cause counts as