Explain this quote ¨Yet this government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way. It does...

This quote from Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” succinctly summarizes one of the key sentiments negotiated in the text. In the essay, Thoreau argues against governmental overreach and governmental involvement in the affairs of American citizens. In the second paragraph, Thoreau calls the government “a sort of wooden gun” and a “complicated machinery” which serves “to satisfy that idea of government which they [the citizens] have.” What Thoreau seems to suggest here is that the government...

This quote from Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” succinctly summarizes one of the key sentiments negotiated in the text. In the essay, Thoreau argues against governmental overreach and governmental involvement in the affairs of American citizens. In the second paragraph, Thoreau calls the government “a sort of wooden gun” and a “complicated machinery” which serves “to satisfy that idea of government which they [the citizens] have.” What Thoreau seems to suggest here is that the government serves a symbolic function, or that it is an abstract idea necessary for citizens to have a sense of security and perhaps a shared purpose. In light of this, the quote under consideration here seems to suggest that it is not the government itself but rather the citizens, who populate the social, economic, geographic, and cultural space that represents the power of the country. In other words, Thoreau seems to think of the government as an empty shell that only receives its power and authority from people who do the work.