The Justified Fight

“If you make laws to keep us suppressed in a wrongful manner and without taking us into confidence, these laws will merely adorn the statue books. We will never obey them”(1). Mohandas Gandhi expressed this in his writing “On Nonviolent Resistance”. “Civil disobedience” is when people use their voice by protesting, non-violently, to stick up against unjust laws and unjust movements. The truths and values are proven and brought to attention in the writings of Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, and Henry David Thoreau. Civil disobedience can be the solution to unjust laws and violence around the world.

From the monarchs of the ancient era to the democracy of today, order has been maintained by means of rules and regulations known as laws. Compliance with these laws is enforced through punishments ranging in severity according to the crimes committed to reduce violence and misconduct from individuals within a society. However, just as citizens consent to abide by the laws of the state in which they reside, one is compelled to preserve justice and condemn the unjust decisions of man when the social contract contradicts the laws sanctioned by God. Approaching this conflict between natural and manmade laws in a non-violent manner is called “civil disobedience”.

Americans assert that three branches of government exist at the national level; however, I contend the most powerful branch of government, the unrecognized fourth branch, overrides the combined influence of congress, the courts, and the president. Civil disobedience, the fourth branch of government, is an integral part of the law creation process in the United States. Recently we have witnessed an increased frequency of civil disobedience, and it is crucial that citizens understand what it entails and how they can use it responsibly. When is civil disobedience the right course to follow in order to change laws? Bree Newsome’s act of civil disobedience flawlessly demonstrates the correct etiquette and action of civil disobedience.

There are many civil disobedient that have shown impatience with the process of democracy. The Bill of Rights provides many opportunities for demonstrations to stimulate sentiment, to dramatize issues, and to cause change. These rights are subject to limitations of time and place so as to secure the rights of others. Also, the demonstrations must not be disguised as a right because it defeats its purpose. As the civil disobedient violates a law, and voluntarily submits to its sanctions, he breaches the law but not the peace. To indulge civil disobedience is to bring on anarchy, and the permissive arbitrariness of anarchy is less tolerable than the repressive arbitrariness of tyranny. Too often the license of liberty is followed by the loss of liberty. The disobedient act of conscience doesn’t enhance democracy; it gradually destroys democracy. The non-violent acts of disobedience will give rise to more civil riot. Van Dusen said, even the noblest act of civil disobedience assaults the rule of law. Although limited to method, motive and objective, it has the effect of inducing others to engage in different forms of law breaking characterized by methods unsanctioned and condemned by classic theories of law violation. Once the civil disobedient disobeys one law, he repeatedly subverts all

Have you ever felt a rule you had to follow was unjust? Have you ever felt your moral instinct tell you not to follow it? Prominent figures in American history, Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau, felt this way and decided to not follow the rules imposed on them by indulging in “civil disobedience”. Civil disobedience is the act of peacefully disobeying laws or customs with the purpose of combating moral injustice. This form of protest has proven to be quite effective in making change in history. In “Civil Disobedience” and the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, both Thoreau and King Jr. write their justification for their actions as well as their feelings regarding the particular disputed

Civil disobedience is often not the most effective, safe, or the most viable option, but what happens if it is the only option. Should people be punished for speaking their voice and correcting an injustice against them even though it is illegal? According to harvard professor Johns Rawls most acts of true civil disobedience are morally justified. Although civil disobedience being illegal, it is morally justified in a democracy because it protects the legitimacy of a democracy, gets rid of unregulated unjust rule of majority, and sometimes is the only way for a group to be heard.

Some agree with the ideas of Henry Thoreau in his literary work “Civil Disobedience,” in this work he discusses the need to prioritize one’s conscience over that of the law. It is felt that the government is seldom useful and it receives its power from the majority because they are the strongest and not because they are correct. He believes that people should do what they feel is right and not what is demanded by the law. Although it is sometimes felt that petitioning your disagreement with the law achieves little, it is a necessary step when trying to change the law.

Civil disobedience is a belief that is practiced in which the people disobey the law in a peaceful manner because it does not come to an agreement with their moral values. Over the years this idea of challenging the government has developed into a duty for the people. This concept is explained in the piece “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr. They both express acts of passive resistance in which the impact is still felt in the modern world. Although, these ideologies were used in Thoreau and King’s time, they need to be updated to fit in today’s world.

Civil disobedience can be justified in certain circumstances because laws do not always apply equally to every individual. When someone¡¯s rights are being harassed

From the time we are children and throughout the duration of our lives, we are told to abide by certain sets of rules. In most situations this is a perfectly acceptable expectation; speed limits, remaining quiet in libraries, and waiting until the age of twenty-one to drink are all reasonable things to ask of people. After all, these rules and laws are put in place to ensure a peaceful and safe society. However, when these rules begin to infringe upon the rights of certain groups, some citizens turn to civil disobedience as a form of protest. While some may argue that civil disobedience is nothing more than a violation of the law, it has also proven to have a positive impact on society, in more ways than one. Used by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin

Furthermore, a person who acts with civil disobedience means, in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “One who breaks an unjust law… openly, lovingly…, and with a willingness to accept the penalty”. In other words, civil disobedience is respectfully breaking a law that is disagreed with, and then openly accepting the consequence. During the world’s history,

Civil disobedience is one of our nation’s most important tools for change, and to promote a free society. Every new movement to change a law in our society can be seen as ‘un American’ or ‘radical’ at first, but even America’s free society was founded on seemingly ‘crazy’ ideas of revolution and fighting back against what was unjust. Since the Enlightenment, throughout history, people have sought change in order to make society equal for everyone, even in other countries for different reasons. Civil disobedience gets people’s attention, and forces the issue into the media spotlight, an effective way to get people to care about whatever change needs to take place. Even today, society is still moving towards change with civil disobedience, making the world better for everyone.

Civil disobedience is the refusal to act and comply with the current government in protest and opposition to an act. Thoreau states in Civil Disobedience that he is willing to obey those that “can do better than I” and states that he accepts the motto “That government is best that governs least” (196, 177 Thoreau). In this lies a paradox of how much and how far the government should be in control of people lives and when should citizens step in to assert a communal moral law to the government. Moral law is the unique ethics and rulebook that each person learns from society. On the other hand, civil law is the set of laws that the government sets down. As a result of the uniqueness of moral laws to each individual person, then by nature civil

The topic of this report focuses on natural law philosophy and acts of civil disobedience. Natural law assumes that humans are naturally good and that they strive to be good. Natural law imposes moral responsibility to do what is right. If something is part of the law but is not morally right, it is the duty of an individual to act upon it. When people act on something that they believe is morally right but is against the law, they are committing acts of civil disobedience, a basic principal of natural law. Positive law on the other hand supports laws of man rather than laws of nature. Supported of positive law believe that the purpose of law is to do the greatest good for the maximum amount of people. In other words, laws are enforced to ensure that individuals do what is best for society rather than themselves. One example of civil disobedience is the act of refusing government interference in homeschooling practices, as done by the Berindrakes. In order for homeschooling to be legal, the government must be involved and be able to ensure standards are being followed. However, these people insists that they are doing God’s duty by homeschooling their children and refusing standardized testing. Another example of civil disobedience is the case of false advertising with CareNet. CareNet advertises falsely and distributes misleading medical information to manipulate society into believing what they consider is morally right. However, false advertisements are illegal. Obedience

The idea of civil disobedience has been a tactic that has been used and revamped throughout history. This is especially true for the Civil Rights Movement throughout the 1960s and was advocated by Martin Luther King Jr. Civil disobedience is the idea that an individual has a right to decide whether a law conforms to the ideal of justice, and to repudiate that law if he deems it unjust. King demonstrated this throughout his life of protest, but especially throughout his Letter from Birmingham Jail. The civil disobedience strategy has potential and has been successful, however there are weaknesses that may arise.