Why Are We Considered Unjust

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When I first examined the central question of this essay, I immediately wanted to declare that peaceful resistance to laws one considers unjust could only have positive effects on a free society. In this day and age, men and women like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, and Rosa Parks, along with countless others, are rightfully regarded as heroes who stood firm in the face of nearly unimaginable injustice. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks both utilized peaceful protest to challenge the segregation laws which prohibited them from exercising their right to vote, along with other civil liberties that we take for granted. Mahatma Gandhi demonstrated the effectiveness of civil disobedience during his lifelong quest to achieve Indian Independence. The men and women overcame the evil laws which discriminated against them, and their final …show more content…

And yet, a persistent gnawing of uncertainty continued to linger in my mind. If one considers a law unjust, and therefore peacefully disobeys it, will a society governed by laws long endure if one can simply disobey any law, anytime, anywhere? For example, if one believes that a certain speed limit is unjust, does disobeying it benefit society? Or, on a more serious note, if one considers paying taxes unjust, does tax evasion in any conceivable way aid our nation? Upon careful reflection of these examples, one begins, as I did, to realize that mere civil disobedience does not necessarily result in an improved society. The riots in the wake of the 2016 general election served to cement this fact in my mind. Now, the question seems to be which types of civil disobedience will positively impact a free society. Civil disobedience to any unpopular law, or civil disobedience to truly unjust laws? The answer lies within the two founding documents of the United States, the Declaration of Independence and the

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