Henry David Thoreau was living in America during a period of slavery and the Mexican War, both of which he strongly disapproved of. It crushed him to think that his hard-earned money would be used to buy weapons to kill people, or support a government that approves of slavery. He believed that the only way he could express his dissaproval was to simply not pay the taxes. By this method he was content in the fact that he was in no way approving or funding two issues that his morals conflicted

What would our country be like if society did as Thoreau said? For example, when state taxes are collected the money is sent to the government of that state. A portion of that money is distributed to the police force. Without money to pay police officers, the results would be unthinkable. Without police officers, there would be chaos. Stores would be looted, people would be robbed, and organized crime would run free and rampant. There would be no one to stop bank robberies, shootings, and rapists. And if, by some chance they were caught and stopped, who would punish them? Imagine walking down the street and seeing a helpless man being mugged as he leaves the ATM machine. You run over and try to stop the criminal but there's too many of them. You wake up next to the old man just as broke as he is. The next time you see it happen, perhaps an old lady being robbed of her groceries, you know better than to try and help. There's no one else you can get help from and you know it will only end up the same as before, so you watch painfully, waiting until it is over and then go over to her for comfort. Keep in mind

Some common words found in the essay are:
Mexican War, Necessity Imagine, pay taxes, David Thoreau, money sent, money sent government, police officers, paying taxes, solid chunk, sent government,
Approximate Word count = 749
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)