Essentially, Thoreau believes that a government based on majority rule will not be a just one because the majority is simply the strongest group, not necessarily the right group..
Besides, what does Thoreau believe about government?
Thoreau begins Civil Disobedience by saying that he agrees with the motto, "That government is best which governs least." Indeed, he says, men will someday be able to have a government that does not govern at all. As it is, government rarely proves useful or efficient.
Also Know, why does Thoreau say that the majority often rule? Thoreau feels that majority rule is incompatible with the rule of indvidual conscience. He writes: Thoreau's thinking is similar to what John Stuart Mill would a few years later call the tyranny of democracy. Just because most people think an idea or path of action is right does not make it right.
Also, what did Thoreau believe about the connection between the majority and Justice?
He contends that majority rule is not based on justice or fairness but rather on nothing more than the fact that the majority is physically stronger than the minority.
What is the basis of majority rule?
Majority rule is a decision rule that selects alternatives which have a majority, that is, more than half the votes. It is the binary decision rule used most often in influential decision-making bodies including all the legislatures of democratic nations.
Related Question Answers
How does Thoreau define a good citizen?
Good citizenship. Henry David Thoreau wrote that men who serve the state making "no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral senseare commonly esteemed good citizens." Orit Ichilov notes that children "tend to perceive the government in the image of an ideal father that is benevolent and protective.What did Thoreau believe?
Thoreau's attitude toward reform involved his transcendental efforts to live a spiritually meaningful life in nature. As a transcendentalist, Thoreau believed that reality existed only in the spiritual world, and the solution to people's problems was the free development of emotions ("Transcendentalism").What does Thoreau think about voting?
Thoreau did not think very highly of voting in general or individuals who expressed their opinions by casting votes. He thought that voting was too much like gambling: risky and uncertain. At most, they give only a cheap vote, and a feeble countenance and God-speed, to the right, as it goes by them. What is the rule by which Thoreau lives?
6)What is the rule/obligation by which Thoreau lives? He lived by the rule of always doing what he thinks is right, putting man first and a subject after.What does it mean to say that the government is best which governs least?
The quote that you are asking about comes from Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience. The main thrust of the quote is the idea that government should not intervene in the lives of its citizens any more than is absolutely necessary. Thoreau is saying that good governments do only what is necessary.What did Thoreau believe in civil disobedience?
Thoreau's Civil Disobedience espouses the need to prioritize one's conscience over the dictates of laws. It criticizes American social institutions and policies, most prominently slavery and the Mexican-American War.What is once well done is done forever?
Henry David Thoreau Quotes What is once well done is done forever.What does Thoreau mean by the words justice and rights?
By definition justice means the quality of being just or fair. Justice is the administration of law, the act of determining rights and assigning rewards or punishments, "justice deferred is justice denied.” The terms of Justice is brought up in Henry David Thoreau's writing, “Civil Disobedience.”What is the rule of expediency?
ex·pe·di·en·cies. 1. Appropriateness to the purpose at hand. 2. Adherence to self-serving means: a politician, guided by expediency rather than principle.What according to Thoreau is the best government?
In "Civil Disobedience," Thoreau wrote that the best kind of government was the one "which [governed] not at all" (Thoreau 1).What does Thoreau believe is necessary for change?
He says that if an injustice is part of the "necessary friction" of the "machine of government," then it should be left alone. Thoreau then argues that working for change through government takes too much time and requires a person to waste his life.What is the individual's ethical responsibility regarding supporting the government when it is wrong?
What is the individual's responsibility regarding supporting the government when it is wrong? The individual has no responsibility to support the government when it is wrong. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.” (Thoreau 138).What did Transcendentalists write about?
Transcendentalists believe that society and its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—corrupt the purity of the individual. They have faith that people are at their best when truly "self-reliant" and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community can form.What is meant by civil disobedience movement?
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government. Hence, civil disobedience is sometimes equated with peaceful protests or nonviolent resistance.How does Thoreau justify the moral need for civil disobedience What principles does he rely on in his justification?
What principles does he rely on in his justification? Thoreau justifies the moral need for civil disobedience by stating his famous quote “that government is best that governs least”, and it means that the government has no right to enforce any law to make a citizen do something against their values/beliefs.What type of writing is civil disobedience?
conversational stylistic round hole. If there is a single word for Henry David Thoreau's writing style in "Civil Disobedience," it is his own word for the style he believed all writers should attempt: vigorous.What three reasons does Thoreau give for his loss of respect for the government?
It does not know its friends from its foes. Three reasons Thoreau lost respect for the government. He sees the town in a new way, a cleaner, mroe understanding way. In the middle of the wilderness on a high hilltop, no evidence of society or government is present.What is Thoreau's opinion of majority rule?
According to Thoreau, what is the basis of majority rule? He contends that majority rule is not based on justice or fairness but rather on nothing more than the fact that the majority is physically stronger than the minority.What does Thoreau compare the government to?
Thoreau also compares the government to an "unscrupulous man in power" who subjugates all citizens to its edicts, however immoral or unjust. 
