Transcendentalism, Freedom or Anarchy Transcendentalism: Freedom or Anarchy?
A certain sense of order is necessary for any sort of organization or society to be successful. In the past, the greatest civilizations, such as the Greeks and Romans, are most admired and were most successful because they knew how to run their governments. Government in America gives people protection, resources, and freedoms that make for an ideal way of life. While freedom is an essential part of the American ideal, Americans are not given complete freedom, but certain rights and liberties. The liberties given to all Americans guarantee a life of opportunity and well being, while giving true freedom to all Americans would lead to disorder among citizens. Simply put, true freedom is anarchy. If every citizen in American were given complete freedom, all order would be lost. Local, state, and federal governments in the United States are responsible for keeping order, and protecting their citizens from both foreign and domestic threats. While certain laws can be established, these laws do citizens no good if they cannot be enforced, which is one of the primary purposes of government. Without enforcement, not enough people can be trusted to follow these laws. Without a government-run judicial system, unjust punishments wo
With the rise of industry in America, growing urbanism, and a growing middle class at this time, these ideals would have soon been left behind. In order to provide basics such as shelter and food, a person needs money or something to trade in order to get these things. In order to get the necessary money, people had to move to cities to get jobs in industry. Thoreau wanted people to live in the wilderness with very limited contact to others. America was founded on the idea of democracy and unity among all of its people. Of any current constitution, the United States' government has been maintained longer than any other current government, and thus many governments established after the 18th century were based on the American government system. Thoreau's ideas call for people to simply ignore government orders and not pay taxes if they feel they don't have to. In Thoreau's time, it is likely that many rural Americans who paid taxes didn't get any benefits from them, other than the protection of their homeland from foreign invasion. That was in a time when the majority of Americans lived in undeveloped rural areas. Now, more than 80% of Americans live in urban areas, where people depend on roadways, sidewalks, and public transportation, all of which is provided by the government. This also means that people live in closer proximity to each other, and that crime is more likely to occur. It is obvious that as Americans we do not have true freedom, because p
Some common words found in the essay are:
Interstate Highway, United States', Government America, Bill Rights, South American, Russia Russian, , Greeks Romans, true freedom, government control, government provide, responsible maintaining, spiritual beliefs, people trusted, people live, complete freedom, control people, judicial system,
Approximate Word count = 997
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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