Civil Disobedience: Thoreau

• The study guide covers material from Thoreau to Michels, excluding Adam Swift, Hersh, and Dostoyevsky.

Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” (1849)

• Unjust laws implicate individuals as agents of injustice.
• Complicity arises from tacit approval through following unjust laws and paying taxes.
• Complicity stems from government being democratically authorized to act, and buying products made under unjust conditions.
• Civil disobedience aims to disassociate from injustice by withholding taxes, contrasting with King's proactive reform approach.
• Voting and petitioning are considered ineffective for change.
• Individuals should prioritize their conscience over majority rule, aligning with Wolff's view on autonomy.
• Government power derives from the majority's strength, not legitimacy.
• Primary obligation is to do what one believes is right, over following the majority.
• Not paying taxes is superior to voting, as voting implies tacit consent.
• Moral integrity outweighs government actions.
• Special responsibility exists to avoid committing injustice based on conscience.
• Focus is placed more on avoiding complicity in injustice than on proactively changing the government.

George Kateb, “Is Patriotism a Mistake?” (2000)

• Patriotism is defined as a willingness to kill and die for one’s country.
• "Country" is an abstraction based on collective memories and heroized tales.
• Principles are universal, guided by integrity, unlike abstractions.
• Patriotism defends political principles due to them being one's own, not necessarily morally right.
• Patriotism can advance justice, as seen with Lincoln; however, it is more commonly used for unjust causes.
• Patriotism is a palatable form of self-worship.
• Rights-based individualism, focusing on individual freedoms, serves as an alternative to patriotism.
• Rights-based individualism is universal, fostering empathy for rights violations regardless of citizenship.

William Galston, “In Defense of a Reasonable Patriotism” (2018)

• Cosmopolitanism prioritizes allegiance to the community of human beings.
• Particularism involves special attachment to a specific group with shared traits.
• Reasonable patriotism is defined as attachment to a political community and civic principles.
• Nationalism advocates for a single ethnic group's control over the state.
• Pride in defending rights constitutes reasonable patriotism.
• Reasonable patriotism applies universal principles.
• It includes recognizing, criticizing, apologizing for, and seeking retribution for a country's injustices.
• Universal principles rely on state institutions and reasonable patriotism to ensure accountability and prevent rights violations.

Mill, Considerations on Representative Government (1861)

• Benevolent despotism involves an authoritarian regime acting in the people's best interests.
• Democracy is defined as a representative system where every citizen participates in government.
• Democracy is self-protecting, vital for defending rights.
• Practicing democracy cultivates moral faculties.
• Active, intellectual, and moral virtues are strengthened.

Elizabeth Anderson, “Democracy: Instrumental vs. Non-Instrumental Value” (2009)

• Democracy as a membership organization is equal and inclusive.
• Democracy as a mode of governance is electoral and deliberative.
• Democracy as a culture is a way of life requiring a strong civil society.
• Instrumental value focuses on results; intrinsic (inherent) value means democracy is valuable in itself.
• Amartya Sen's view that famines do not occur in democratic states exemplifies democracy's instrumental value.
• Mutual respect, avoiding abuse/oppression, autonomy and collective learning are all examples of instrumental or intrinsic values.
• Mutual respect and autonomy represent intrinsic values of democracy.
• Avoiding oppression and collective learning represent instrumental values of democracy.

Jason Brennan, Against Democracy (2016)

• Citizens are categorized into hobbits, hooligans, and Vulcans.
• Apathetic and ignorant citizens are 'Hobbits'.
• Citizens with strong, fixed views are 'Hooligans'.
• 'Vulcans' are scientific and rational citizens.
• Political rights (voting, running for office) are distinct from civil and economic liberties.
• Political rights give power over others and aren't inherently justified.
• Epistemic, aretaic, and intrinsic reasons are all ways of valuing democracy.
• Epistemic is when democracy makes more knowledgeable decisions through deliberation and voting.
• Aretaic is when democracy promotes active, moral, and intellectual virtues.
• Intrinsic values express equality and self-government.
• Valuing democracy is purely instrumental.
• Political participation has a corrosive impact.
• Proposals include restricted suffrage/plural voting and universal suffrage with epistocratic veto.

Chris Achen and Larry Bartels, Democracy for Realists (2016)

• In folk theory of democracy, citizens select representatives based on policy preferences (prospective accountability.)
• The folk theory suggests referenda and term limits for representatives ignoring preferences.
• Retrospective accountability involves voters assessing past performance as a predictor of future performance.
• Referenda empower the wealthy.
• Term limits shift power to the executive, bureaucrats, and lobbyists.
• Term limits result in less innovation and less work done by expert legislative committees.
• Voters must discern the government’s role in their well-being.
• Citizens may punish representatives for factors out of the government's control.
• Citizens struggle to evaluate if conditions are improving.
• Democracy ensures political stability through legitimate government selection.
• Democracy allows legitimate opposition.
• Democracy limits government abuses.
• Elections increase turnover of government power.
• Rulers have reasons to tolerate opposition and development of human character.
• Politicians strive by avoiding violating consensual ethical norms.
• Democracy and universal suffrage are needed so that citizens of lower economic status still have representation and a voice in government.
• Economic/wealthy elites' preferences correlate with policy enactment, overshadowing common citizens' influence.

Robert Michels, Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchic Tendencies of Modern Democracy (1911)

• The iron law of oligarchy states that all organizations become dominated by an elite few, even if they start democratic and equal.
• Michels studied European socialist parties.
• Oligarchy arises from the need for leadership and bureaucracy in large organizations and from the impossibility and inefficiency of democracy in large-scale organizations.
• Bureaucracy, as theorized by Max Weber, involves a division of labor, a hierarchy of authority, clear rules, impersonal relationships, and selection by expert qualifications.
• The iron law of oligarchy critiques Marxism, questioning if the working class party took over if oligarchy will always prevail.
• Democracy is superior to aristocracy and the least objectionable.
• Education of the working class is important to resist oligarchy.
• Democracy involves a tension between citizen control and the tendency to centralize power in leaders.