Henry David Thoreau said "that government is best which governs least." Odd statement to make, unless you know a little information about the man who said it. Thoreau, though he was best known for being an American born author, he also wrote and taught about the ideas of civil disobedience, tax resistance, and abolitionism. Having lived and died in the time of the civil war, these ideas would have been seen as extremist, and causes him to have many more enemies than friends. Though this explains why Thoreau said what he did, we must still understand what he meant. He felt that the government should not have too much power. Him and many others of the time feared the coming age of monarchy that had once ruled over America from England. He thought that the only way to prevent this was to ensure this was to limit the power of the federal government, and to make sure that the power was spread equally to the state governments. By doing this the federal government does not have too much power, and cannot become a monarchy.
I agree with Thoreau, that when the federal government attains too much power, disaster can strike. The power our government has must be spread throughout the levels. The states must be able to govern without substantial interference from the federal government. We as Americans have freedoms, those freedoms are given to use by our federal government. Many believe that the day the American government gains too much power, will be the day we begin to lose those freedoms. We must fight so this does not happen. Our government must govern least, in order to serve the best interests of us as Americans.
