When I converse with the freest of my neighbors, I perceive that, whatever
they may say about the magnitude and seriousness of the question, and their
regard for the public tranquility, the long and the short of the matter is,
that they cannot spare the protection of the existing government, and they
dread the consequences to their property and families of disobedience to it.
For my own part, I should not like to think that I ever rely on the protection
of the State. But, if I deny the authority of the State when it presents its
tax bill, it will soon take and waste all my property, and so harass me and my
children without end. This is hard. This makes it impossible for a man to live
honestly, and at the same time comfortably, in outward respects. It will not be
worth the while to accumulate property; that would be sure to go again. You
must hire or squat somewhere, and raise but a small crop, and eat that soon.
You must live within yourself, and depend upon yourself always tucked up and
ready for a start, and not have many affairs. A man may
grow rich in Turkey even, if he will be in all respects a good subject of the
Turkish government. Confucius said: "If a state is governed by the
principles of reason, poverty and misery are subjects of shame; if a state is
not governed by the principles of reason, riches and honors are subjects of
shame." No: until I want the protection of Massachusetts to be
extended to me in some distant Southern port, where my liberty is endangered,
or until I am bent solely on building up an estate at home by peaceful enterprise,
I can afford to refuse allegiance to Massachusetts, and her right to my
property and life. It costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of
disobedience to the State than it would to obey. I should feel as if I were
worth less in that case.
ምንም አስተያየቶች የሉም:
አስተያየት ይለጥፉ