Civil Disobedience: Citizens Pushing Back

Americans have some recourse against Obama’s shutdown theater.

Democracy isn’t a machine — it’s a dance. And as much as we all admire Thomas More’s famous speech in A Man for All Seasons — “I’d give the Devil the benefit of the law, for my own safety’s sake!” — the fact is we ignore the law all the time: Sammy Hagar can’t drive 55, and I have a sneaking suspicion that many bartenders receiving cash tips do not report every last penny to the IRS. The people we elect to represent us come to believe that they are there to rule us, and we push back against being ruled, sometimes in penny-ante ways, sometimes more dramatically, as with the recent outburst of civil disobedience in Washington, D.C., where veterans and other righteously cheesed-off citizens tore down the barricades surrounding our national monuments and deposited them in front of the White House, as excellent a gesture of the American spirit as our increasingly docile nation has seen in years.

Every American has a little sedition in his soul, and this is a very good time to give it free rein.

There is a finely calibrated bargain at the heart of a republic: Citizens have a duty to obey the lawful and legitimate mandates of the government, including those with which they disagree, and the government has a duty to see to it that its actions are lawful and legitimate. The people have an obligation to be prudent and circumspect about engaging in civil disobedience, and the government has a responsibility to be scrupulous with its powers. That contract has been violated by the White House.

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