Thoreau’s Evergreen Wisdom on Society and Politics

Henry David Thoreau was a man who left his mark. While the American writer’s work often failed to perform well with retail sellers when first published, his literary corpus has influenced America since then.

Presidents like Theodore Roosevelt and JFK, naturalists and environmentalists like John Muir and Rachel Carson, and social activists like Gandhi and MLK — all drank from this veritable fountainhead at the forefront of freethinking. A massive proponent of limited government and individual liberties, Thoreau’s thought had something in common with Jefferson’s take on the role of the federal administration. 

It wasn’t merely that Thoreau beckoned to the young Teddy Roosevelt’s inner outdoorsman. Surely, something about the former’s flavor of masculinity, mingled with patriotism, spoke to Roosevelt too. As the author of Walden writes in his essay critiquing government, and the U.S. in particular:

Others—as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders—serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the Devil, without intending it, as God. A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men, serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part…

Just as Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle would expose the terrible conditions of Chicago’s meat-packing industry and motivate Congress to pass the Pure Food and Drug Act, so Thoreau’s works galvanized legislators and activists to protect the natural beauty of Cape Cod and other vast swathes of land that had long served as vital habitats.

To the American literati of the 20th century, his poetic progeny, he was also an influencer. He etched an impact on writers such as E.B. White and Robert Frost — deep canals like the forehead furrows and wrinkles of the weathered woodland dweller’s face. (Let the reader know that Thoreau’s features were not nearly so pronounced as they are here accentuated.) Strains of his thought, especially of his love of the natural world, trickled down into the thinking of moderns. The Charlotte’s Web author described him as “a Johnny-on-the-spot for all ordinary occasions and situations.” He was a man with American principles, whose work benefited his country’s communities and ecosystems even after his death and even now. Yet, we would do well to take into account his words of self-knowledge: “Most men think differently from myself.” That said, let’s get into it. Just what does Henry David Thoreau have to contribute to the conversation revolving around modern society and politics?

The Role of Government

That government is best which governs least. Thoreau quotes the old maxim at the outset of his essay “Resistance to Civil Government” (appearing elsewhere under the title “Civil Disobedience”). Then he adds, “That government is best which governs not at all.” He has to admit that the polity of the land has its benefits. But where it can be a help — offering order, safety, and assistance, it can also be a hindrance.

The army, for instance, is simply one branch of our nation’s government. Yet, what the army does can be good or evil. From Thoreau’s viewpoint, the Mexican-American War of his own day was detestable. He disagreed with the conduct of his country, deeming it an unjust war. Hence, he stated, “I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.”

Knock and the door will be opened. Express yourself. Listen to others. Deliberation and a transparent sharing of ideas is the foundation of a better government for the people. What a truly American notion! One’s own rights, such as those to life, to freedom of religion and of the press, and to vote, should be protected. But we also need to have the humility to realize that the I’s should not always have it. What I say might not be the best way. It is good to have my own ideas tempered and tested. If the individual good becomes more important than the common good, Thoreau recognizes that might does not make right and that a majority vote does not mean the majority are morally in the right. Though, to push back a bit against Thoreau, he seems to place a premium on the individual. But the formula for true justice consists in a mean or balance between upholding individual rights and safeguarding the common good of the people. If we’re going to get philosophically picky, there is a distinction between natural rights (like those mentioned above) and the liberty to do whatever I want.

The problem facing the common good is the individual pursuing whatever he wants at the cost of devaluing others and dismissing their wellbeing. The problem facing the individual comes from the threat of government overlooking his natural rights and thereby devaluing him. In regards to laws, regulations, and liberties condoned by the government are good so long as they uphold and do not hinder the good of the person.

Yet, as Thoreau himself says, “Law never made men a whit more just.” Sometimes, it does just the opposite. (Exhibit A: The social effects of Prohibition.) But, if people have well-formed consciences and follow them, we would witness more justice. Justice does not begin with a law imposed on the masses; it begins with me and you doing what is right and living good lives. Every man has a conscience, the writer argues, and he ought to put it to good use.

Exercising the Right to Vote

Thoreau bemoans voting as useful up to a degree. He says voting is merely expressing your beliefs, wishing that what you believe to be right will be upheld by the candidate you favor. But this is no guarantee that your candidate will be elected or even that he will stand up for what os right and just.

In analyzing the issue, he is concerned with the purpose of voting and what the intention and disposition of the voter are. He is frustrated that the average voter will despair of the condition of the US and default to one of the candidates already selected by a major political party. In Thoreau’s moral scales, this is as good as selling your vote. He wants more freethinkers and more independent votes.

For him, there’s certainly an ethical character in exercising this right: a right way and a wrong way. “Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence,” proclaims Thoreau. The lesson taught is to take voting seriously, not haphazardly. The message of an old anti-slavery naturalist is this: Carefully consider, weigh, and evaluate who we want to hold the offices for which we find ourselves voting. And put your beliefs into practice, not just on a piece of paper, but in life.

Thoreau would die in 1862. Less than three years after, the 13th Amendment was added to the Constitution, that document Thoreau once dubbed “evil.” This gave freedom to former slaves, although there was a lot of social reform needed before something like equality was felt in the nation. Then, in 1870, the 15th Amendment was passed, granting people — regardless of skin color — the freedom to practice their right to vote. Since then, U.S. citizens, and especially African Americans, have cherished that right to vote.

While he had some spicy political beliefs, Thoreau’s point about taking voting (and more importantly your beliefs) seriously is advice well-given.

A Word about Truth and Media Consumption

By profession, journalists are meant to present the truth. But long before the onslaught of multimedia bombardment, since the earliest days of bulletins posted in public areas, the signs of disinformation, propaganda, and simple gossip have been apparent.

In his essay “Life Without Principle,” Thoreau says humanity should strive for truth and that reading the daily news does not lead to a peaceful mind, nor to a mind dwelling on things that really matter.

“We select granite for the underpinning of our houses and barns; we build fences of stone; but we do not ourselves rest on an underpinning of granitic truth,” he writes, filing another complaint against society. “We do not worship truth, but the reflection of truth.”

Playing a part in this deviation from reality is society’s habit of absorbin media, listening to all the voices of the world but not to the singular call of nature or to the the conscience within the self. “The poor fellow,” he writes, “who walks away with the greatest number of letters, proud of his extensive correspondence, has not heard from himself this long while.”

“It is too much to read one newspaper a week,” confesses Thoreau, who has tried the pastime before. In making time for that habit, “I have not dwelt in my native region. The sun, the clouds, the snow, the trees says not so much to me. You cannot serve two masters.” As for Thoreau and his household of one, he gladly returns to listening to the woods. Politics, tabloids, the word on the street…all distractions! The facts of the daily news appear to float in the atmosphere, insignificant as the sporules of fungi, and impinge on some neglected thallus, or surface of our minds, which affords a basis for them, and hence a parasitic growth. We should wash ourselves clean of such news.

On the contrary, our minds were made to dwell on truth. The mind built upon it Thoreau loftily likens to “a quarter of heaven,” “an hypethral temple,” “our thoughts’ shrine,” the sanctum sanctorum. In short, the content of the daily news he views as “rubbish” not worthy to rest on the sacred ground of the mind. He does not want to load insignificant information into his thinking space. “It is important to preserve the mind’s chastity in this respect,” he determines. He continues:

We should treat our minds, that is, ourselves, as innocent and ingenuous children, whose guardians we are, and be careful what objects and what subjects we thrust on their attention. Read not the Times. Read the Eternities.

The suspicion and disgust with which Thoreau meets the media of his day is one approach to media consumption that remains in vogue now. The lesson to be gleaned from the grains of Thoreau’s wisdom on this topic is, once again, to be conscientious of our surroundings and our self. We ought to be discerning and disciplined with what media we expose ourselves to, being aware of its biases, its usefulness (or lack thereof), and its impact on our wellbeing.

Thoreau’s work advocates for more mindfulness, exercising our mental and moral faculties, those attributes that distinguish us from the rest of the animal kingdom. He believes that a man should first think and only then act — and act according to the truth.