Girau, The picture says it all

Ralph Emerson’s “Self Reliance”, is exactly the title. The main concept is relying on the self. Use your own talents instead of relying on others. Emerson focuses on independence versus interdependence and how relying on ourselves instead of the government is key. Thoreau in “Civil Disobedience” turns away from the idea of trained soldiers (more like lapdogs of the government). Soldiers are used as mere tools of destruction, but yet we commend them for breaking our own laws? Murder is a crime punishable by life in prison or even capital punishment and soldiers evade that everyday. Soldiers have no independence due to the guidelines they follow put in place by the government and the concept of “kill or be killed”. But, as Thoreau illustrates, with his tax evasion ploy, we have the will within ourselves to say no I don’t want to follow the law and for good reason. We do not have to also become the government’s lapdogs. Let freedom reign!