Andy Wilson

“It Is Their Right, It Is Their Duty, To Throw Off Such Government”

Socrates’ idea that we should never question or openly act against our

government and that the government is established not for the service of the people is

absurd. A fine example of a thriving opposite to Socrates’ thinking is here in the United

States. The United States is a nation found on the entire other end of the spectrum from

Socrates’ views. It was founded on the idea that people should question their

government in order to prevent abuses and if need be act openly against that government.

Our own Deceleration of Independence says almost exactly the contrary of Socrates’

beliefs when it states “governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers

from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes

destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to

institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its

powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and

happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be

changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that

mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves

by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses

and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them
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under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government,

and to provide new guards for their future security.”

In the United States there has always been a spirit of opposing the

government’s wishes. We were founded because our fore fathers disliked how we were

being treated by our imperial overlord Great Britain and therefore revolted and founded a

nation devoted to a government for the people by the people. In the mid 19th century the

United States was torn north to south on the issue of slavery and states rights. The

Southern states which opposed the government, especially the Northern states, meddling

in their business decided it was time to openly act against a government that they saw as

wrong and start their own country which lead to the Civil War. Almost one hundred years

after the Civil War the nation was again divided and questioning the government, this

time along many different lines. During this time the Vietnam Conflict, which many

people saw as being something the United States had no business being involved with,

was claiming many thousands of young American lives. Those people who disagreed

with the war held massive protests and rallies in opposition to the war and the decisions

of the government. Many young men who were drafted into the army fled to Canada

instead of fighting in a war they saw as unjust. At the same time as the uproar over the

Vietnam Conflict there was also a large movement for equal rights among the many

minorities in the U.S. The man leading those wanting civil rights was Dr. Martin Luther

King. He obtained these rights not by acting violently but instead by practicing civil

disobedience, which is disobeying the authoritative power in order to gain whatever is

wanted.
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But the United States is not the only example of why the Socrates’ idea is

wrong. Imagine living in a nation like Cuba or North Korea where the ability to

challenge the government is restricted by law. Living in either of these countries would

be very similar to living in a nation where everyone restricted themselves from

questioning the government, the only exception being the restriction is self imposed. If

Socrates idea were correct and no one ever questioned or acted against their government

there would be no stopping those who rule us. If everyone in the world decided right

now to quit questioning their government and allow it to do as it pleased there would be

no one to check the powers of the government. There would be no freedom in the world

because everyone would feel it was their responsibility to allow those who rule them to

do as they please. Corruption would be wide spread because those who wished to

manipulate the government to their own purposes would have the ability to do so. Laws

and legislation would not be passed for the purpose of helping the common person but for

the profit of the individuals in power.

Finally, Socrates says that everyone should endure whatever it is their

government does to them be it bad or good but the truth is people will not tolerate

injustices forever. As that famous line goes “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it

any more,” most people will only take so much abuse before they finally snap. Everyone

even the mildest people have a certain point where a certain injustice to them be it

something large imprisonment of a family member or even something as simple as a tax

on stamps will push them over the edge of their tolerance. For instance, after Great
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Britain’s victorious war with France during the early to mid 18th century, they greatly in

debt and required a large amount of money. One of their solutions was to place a tax on

tea, stamps, paint and other products but the tax was only put into effect in their colonies.

This greatly upset the colonists and was one of the reasons leading to the Revolutionary

War.

Socrates’ ideas towards how a citizen should interact with their

government are totally ridiculous because without the interaction of the people certain

things would never be accomplished, Civil Rights and the ending of Vietnam Conflict,

and if people never interacted with their government it would become corrupt. Also

people will not tolerate injustices or very long. They will rebel and they will protest. It is

a very good thing that all people are not mindless emotionless robots like Socrates would

like them to be and never question their government otherwise the world would be a very

dark and dreary place.

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“The Declaration of Independence.” Yale University.

20 November 2003. <http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/declare.htm>

Michael Moncur. “Movie Quotes.” The Quotes Page.

20 November 2003.<http://www.quotationspage.com/>