Henry David Thoreau Quotes
If labor mainly, or to any considerable degree, serves the purpose of a police, to keep men out of mischief, it indicates a rottenness at the foundation of our community.
Thoreau, Henry David. "Life Without Principle." The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 12, no. 72, Ticknor and Fields, Oct. 1863, p. 407.
This general perception led the Founding Fathers to place profound restrictions on the allowable role of the military in national law enforcement—a condition that exists to this day.
Part of the Soviet Union
This proclamation was obviously unconstitutional, but at the time no one challenged it in the courts. It is yet another example, where in an emergency, executive officers of government tend to over-reach and expand their power and authority using the necessity of the emergency as the justification. This case was particularly ironic in that the mayor, so concerned with law and order that he would summarily kill people suspected of looting, was indicted and convicted for corruption the following year. His jail time was limited by a successful court appeal, and he then lost as a mayoralty candidate, but did finally get elected to the San Francisco City Council. Of course, had he been shot when first suspected of his crime—as he proscribed for others--he would never have had the opportunity to appeal and be acquitted.
Trashing government’s ability to do things was not new to the Ronald Reagan era and after. It had a long history.
Wade was urging the Prince to abolish the Death by 1000 Cuts {641825} and simply rely on beheading the form of execution for “lesser” crimes. Note that the Prince’s fears and arguments parallel the same given by modern proponents of the Death Penalty—without it criminals would not be controlled and instability would ensue.
Henry David Thoreau was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government"), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.
