Disagreeing with laws and upholding laws and arguing they should be upheld

I don't know much about Canadian history. You folks have always seemed like kinder, gentler Americans. I don't know how you got to that place.But I know that dramatic changes in U.S. laws came about in part because a nice black lady refused to give up her seat to a white man--in violation of the law. Black people were arrested for sitting down at white-only lunch counters--in violation of the law.Soon after, the world watched vicious dogs and rabid deputies attack black folks who marched for justice even though they had been denied permission to do so under the law.I'm with Thoreau (and Silent H) on this one:

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...if [an injustice] is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine." -- Henry David Thoreau

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Civil disobedience is a fine and necessary tradition. One does then expect prosecution under the law, but one also expects the opportunity to argue that the law is unjust and should not be upheld. Sometimes the democratic consensus has to be whacked to get its attention.People who organize against injustice are often warned not to alienate the moderates, lest the extremists gain power. But moderates are not agents of change; watching the consequences of defying the law can force them to recognize the need for change.Democracy has virtues, but it is not virtuous: a privileged majority can natter on for decades (or centuries) and never come to a consensus to surrender their privilege.Sometimes it takes dramatic, polarizing action to effect change.Edited by Omnivorous, : subtitle got unjustly chopped off

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Real things always push back.
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In fact, they have not only the right under military law to refuse unlawful orders but an obligation.

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Real things always push back.
-William James Save lives! Click here!
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I made it up while reflecting on why I both adore and distrust democracy. Feel free to use it.

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Real things always push back.
-William James Save lives! Click here!
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Yes.

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Real things always push back.
-William James Save lives! Click here!
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Good.After the revolution, we'll take care of you.

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Real things always push back.
-William James Save lives! Click here!
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Anti-German sentiment, actually, had a great deal to do with Prohibition in the U.S. (1920-1933, check out the Anti-Saloon League).Protestant religious hysteria also played a part: there were people out there having fun, and they had to be stopped. Demagoguery can readily capture a temporary majority. Fortunately, dry reality checks by far more than 2% saved the day. The prevalence of speakeasies, bathtub gin, and Kennedy whiskey mocked prohibition into its grave.Prohibit in haste, thirst at leisure, I say.AbE: Oh yeah--the fact that most Americans ignored the law and thereby empowered a vast criminal enterprise was also relevant.Edited by Omnivorous, : No reason given.

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Real things always push back.
-William James Save lives! Click here!
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It is simple, although it isn't easy.We have much more to fear from complaisant civil servants than defiant ones.Weigh the lives lost by robotic, obedient civil servants in one hand, and those lost by defiant ones in the other: notice how the first hand is smashed and bloody while the second is nearly empty.

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Real things always push back.
-William James Save lives! Click here!
Join the World Community Grid with Team EvC!
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