Today is July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,  a fitting day to read Thoreau’s manifesto regarding his obligations to the State.  When he was imprisoned for one night for refusing to pay his poll tax, Thoreau sat down to explain his action.

Disgusted by the actions of the State and the majority’s indifference and passivity to the expanding powers of the State, he refused to pay a tax that would support that entity.  He was outraged by slavery and by the U.S. incursion that resulted in the Mexican War and refused to support the State which supported these actions.  While paying his property, school, and road taxes because of his commitment to his community, he refused the tax associated with voting for this State.

There is much in this nearly 200 year old, brief pamphlet that applies to our country and its situation under the current administration.  Thoreau begins his essay as follows:  “I heartily accept the motto—That government is best which governs least, and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically.”  He goes on to write that “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.”  And in a prescient observation about today’s Congress, he writes, “If we were left solely to the wordy wit of legislators in Congress for our guidence, uncorrected by the reasonable experence and the effectual complaints of the people, America would not long retain her rank among the nations.”

So take that Speaker Johnson and Majority Leader Thune.  Nearly 200 years after Thoreau wrote this pamphlet, we again face a State that has lost its way.  Will we have the courage to act or simply to wring our hands and keep on keeping on?