On Civil Disobedience

"Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence. A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority then; but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight." -Thoreau in "On Civil Disobedience"


 I like this quote by Thoreau, how he says not to just fill in a circle at the polls and walk away from this democratic process, but to cast "your whole influence."  I think he means that we should try to see democracy not just as a one time action, but as an ongoing mindset or lifestyle.  He wants people to use all the tools and resources of power they have to work towards what they want to see happen.  Along with this, he also points out the dangers the majority can pose with how much power it is given in American democracy.  He echoes much of what Tocqueville says as well.  I feel like Thoreau, however, looks more at the negative aspects of this while Tocqueville talked more about how the minority can work to combat the majority through voluntary associations.  Thoreau also says "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; who even postpone the question of freedom..."  He points out how so many people are idle and don't do anything to change what they don't like while Tocqueville talks about how people, through voluntary associations, do not sit idle and work towards change.