Civil Disobedience Analysis
Since the 1800’s, civil disobedience has been used by the people to peacefully oppose laws and fight the government. Civil disobedience—when used in it’s true form (which is to be peaceful and willingly accept punishment after purposely breaking a law)—does not create violence or undermine the government. Instead, it brings negative light to the law itself and allows the government and the people to evaluate it and make their own decisions upon whether or not they agree with the civil disobedient who opposed it. In his article “The Morality of Disobedience”, Morris Keeton states that “We should enlarge the role of civil disobedience and enhance its effectiveness for constructive change” (507). Overall, civil disobedience positively effects
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In his article “The Morality of Civil Disobedience”, Morris Keeton states that
When our forefathers threw off their allegiance to Great Britain, and founded the republic of the United States, they announced to the world certain political ideas, all of which they firmly believed . . . failing to accomplish the high purpose for which [our government] was established, it becomes the duty of the people to [fix it] (Keeton …show more content…
Like Keeton says, “[Our country] was founded in rebellion” (Keeton 1). As a citizen of the country that worked so hard to establish its ideals, every American has a moral right against the law. This moral right doesn’t include every single law, but rather ones that oppress others or create fear for citizens or are unfair to the American people (Frankel 5). Although it is not ideal, the morality of a citizen it sometimes more important than the legality of that law or system. As King states, “We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal’” (Goodwin 244). The times that civil disobedience has been put into practice it has shown to be more than effective. It is the one thing that stands out, as it is nonviolent and brings attention to the unjust
In his article “The Morality of Civil Disobedience”, Morris Keeton states that
When our forefathers threw off their allegiance to Great Britain, and founded the republic of the United States, they announced to the world certain political ideas, all of which they firmly believed . . . failing to accomplish the high purpose for which [our government] was established, it becomes the duty of the people to [fix it] (Keeton …show more content…
Like Keeton says, “[Our country] was founded in rebellion” (Keeton 1). As a citizen of the country that worked so hard to establish its ideals, every American has a moral right against the law. This moral right doesn’t include every single law, but rather ones that oppress others or create fear for citizens or are unfair to the American people (Frankel 5). Although it is not ideal, the morality of a citizen it sometimes more important than the legality of that law or system. As King states, “We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal’” (Goodwin 244). The times that civil disobedience has been put into practice it has shown to be more than effective. It is the one thing that stands out, as it is nonviolent and brings attention to the unjust