The Transcendentalists' Viewpoint

         Here is an excerpt from the Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's piece on "Transcendentalism":
"The transcendentalists operated from the start with the sense that the society around them was seriously deficient: a “mass” of “bugs or spawn” as Emerson put it in “The American Scholar”; slavedrivers of themselves, as Thoreau says in Walden. Thus the attraction of alternative life-styles: Alcott's ill-fated Fruitlands; Brook Farm, planned and organized by the Transcendental Club; Thoreau's cabin at Walden. As the nineteenth century came to its mid-point, the transcendentalists' dissatisfaction with their society became focused on policies and actions of the United States government: the treatment of the Native Americans, the war with Mexico, and, above all, the continuing and expanding practice of slavery."
           I think this can speak for even today's society: we do what we do because we want to fix things. Whether a certain aspect of our government is "seriously deficient", or because we are dissatisfied with the policies and actions of our government, Americans have learned to take action in democracy.  This allows society to function as a type of friction against the government; in order to realize their true power within a democracy, it takes speaking out or acting out against something.  Taking action, even if it is passive action, such as Thoreau's not paying his taxes, it makes a statement.  And it is statements like these that help the government know what the citizens think of their decisions. 

Civil Disobedience

          Thoreau's view on civil disobedience raises the question,  "can civil disobedience be compatible with democratic government?"  I would answer yes, but only to an extent.
          Civil disobedience is at odds with the democratic government because of the tension that goes along with the tyranny of the majority.  Democracy only works when a community is able to pass laws with the understanding that all will abide by what the majority desires.  Thoreau states that no person should have to compromise or tolerate a policy he did not want.  But can this really work for all of society? Would society fall apart under this idea?
         Civil disobedience has potential to be compatible with the democratic government because Thoreau is not suggesting that people simply deny the existence of unjust laws.  Rather, he says that protesters will probably have to pay for the consequences of their actions, forcing society to make decisions about having just people in jail.  Thoreau seems to accept the legal authority of unjust laws, but does not seem to recognize the moral authority of unjust laws.  This is why he encourages people to violate them.  This approach can turn dangerous if many communities adopt it, and it raises the question of why democratic institutions have the ability to produce laws that violate democratic principles.

Update on the Tea Party

According to Washington Post's article, "Budget fight shows Washington still broken", support for the Tea Party party is diminishing. Here is an excerpt from it:

"But there is political risk in that position. The tea party’s apparent hold on the House leadership comes at a time of diminishing popularity for the movement. A new poll from the Pew Research Center showed that “slightly more disagree with the tea party than agree with the movement, a reversal in public evaluations from a year ago,” according to the center’s news release."

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/budget-fight-shows-washington-still-broken/2011/04/08/AFS2mR4C_story.html)

Thoreau's Lake and My Lake

In reading "Walden", I came across this quote,

"A lake like this is never smoother than at such a time; and the clear portion of the air above it being, shallow and darkened by clouds, the water, full of light and reflections, becomes a lower heaven itself so much the more important" (Where I Lived, and What I Lived For). 

          This reminded me exactly of my cabin (my favorite place on earth), and what the lake looks like at night, after all the animals, boats, and people have retired from the beach and the water and into their cabins.  I like to think that watching sunsets from my dock is a little piece of heaven, and I am so grateful that I get to experience nature in this way (which is very similar to Thoreau's descriptions).   The following are a couple of pictures of my lake (Pelican Lake) that I have taken from my dock at my cabin:

As Thoreau says further in this section, " I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."  This is how I feel when I am at my cabin -- My purpose in life becomes so much more clear, I focus on what really matters, and I get to appreciate all of nature in the way that it should be.  Thoreau seems to encourage his readers to live simply -- and then you will have a fulfilling life.  I think I would have to agree with him; when we live simply, we focus on what really matters, and all of the superficial ideas and things seem to disappear. 

Thoughts on Emerson's "Nature"

       Emerson highlights the more broad definition when he writes, "Nature, in the common sense, refers to essences unchanged by man..." (Introduction).  Here he is talking about natural lands...trees, rivers, etc.  Yet most of our oceans, rivers, and lakes have in some way or anther been affected by man.  Pollution has caused most of the natural essences to become changed.  Does this mean that we really don't have any "essences unchanged by man" left to us? If we go to northern Minnesota, we can see how wild everything is...how things look so unchanged by man.  But I think that mankind has had such a huge impact on the physical earth that almost all essences have been changed, in some small way or another. 
        Nature is also something that can be taken on by anyone.  Emerson writes, "Nature says, -- he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece" (Chapter 1).  People use nature to celebrate, to exercise, to find solitaire, and even to mourn/cope.  For me, nature seems so "great"...and I mean that more as "great/big/vast/impressive".  If I try to fathom the power of nature or the beauty of nature, I become overwhelmed -- nature to me is a place for every occasion -- I find comfort in it and I would spend all of my time in it if I could.  Every hour that I am in nature I find more peace within myself and with the world.          We also can sometimes take this great nature for granted.  If we stop to notice, if nature didn't work the way it does, we'd be in serious trouble because it provides so much for us.  Emerson explains this well when he writes, 

"Nature, in its ministry to man, is not only the material, but is also the process and the result. All the parts incessantly work into each other's hands for the profit of man. The wind sows the seed; the sun evaporates the sea; the wind blows the vapor to the field; the ice, on the other side of the planet, condenses rain on this; the rain feeds the plant; the plant feeds the animal; and thus the endless circulations of the divine charity nourish man" (Chapter 2).   All of nature works together to give an outcome that benefits man.  Man is able to depend on nature for it's food and drink needs.  In all, nature provides peace and solitude, as well as dietary and survival needs.  Without nature, humankind would cease to exist. 

Thoreau and Railroads

While reading "The Transcendental Railroad", I paid close attention to Thoreau's thoughts about the railroad.  The following are some of the quotes/points I deemed worth noticing:

It seems as though Thoreau had a more negative view of the railroad.  Yet he "would not deny that the railroad was accomplishing much at the material level" (316).  This article portrays Thoreau as a
"Thoreau, more full of questions than of answers, voiced misgivings over this particular manifestation of 'progress'" (306).
"Of greater concern to him [Thoreau] were the effects of the railroad.  At what ever level he examined them, however, an ambivalence was nearly always present in his attitude...Thoreau demurred that the Iron Horse, which required wood for fuel and for ties, had 'browsed off all the woods on Walden shore' and 'muddied the Boiling Spring with his foot'" (316).

Thoreau had a negative view of not only the railroad itself, but almost of the industrial boom that it created. "But much as commerce was accomplishing and respectable as it might be in itself, it was contaminated by what Thoreau called, 'the commercial spirit' - that is, an undue interest in trade, to the exclusion of higher concerns" (317).  And while he held this view for awhile, "Thoreau's attention eventually centered less upon the economic repercussions of the railroad and more upon its effects on the spirit and activity of people in general" (317).

Thoreau also "condemned' the fancy attributes of the railroad car.  "'in the railroad car we are inclined to spend more on luxury than on safety and convenience.' There was something demeaning about this effeminate travel" (318).  Even though Thoreau said this, he did himself "ride the cars" to several different locations.

The article provides the reader with a great sentence to help fully summarize Thoreau's attitude towards the railroad: "The continuing and consistent note in Thoreau's remarks about the railroad is his mistrust of the contemporary pursuit of material rather than spiritual values" (319).

How Railroads Impacted Americans

The following are three distinct changes in people's lives and perceptions as a result of railroads in America:


1. From Klein's "The Rise of the Iron Horse": "By lowering the cost of inland transportation they [railroads] rendered distant markets not only physically accessible but economically feasible.  Within half a century the rail system because the lifeline of an industrial society, a network of steel tentacles pushing into every corner of the Republic" (19).
      and from Cronon's "Rails and Water": Aside from being able to go virtually anyplace where potential demand was great enough, they could also operate quite independently of the climatic factors that had bedeviled early forms of transportation" (74).
       Railroads made it possible to get from location to location more conveniently.  Trade was able to increase, and families could visit each other more easily. Goods were not compromised in travel because trains were able to keep them safe.  All in all, the railroad lowered costs of transportation and made traveling (for both people and goods) more convenient.


2.  From Klein's "The Rise of the Iron Horse: "No account of the railroad's impact writ large can convey its force as a symbol of industrial progress for individual Americans.  It opened new markets for merchants, new farmlands for settlers, new sources of profit for financiers, new jobs for everyone from managers to day laborers, and new enterprises for those who grasped the railroad's need for goods and services of many kinds" (20).
        Railroads greatly enhanced industrial growth. New jobs were created, new ways to make profits were created, and new markets were created.  All of these dramatically altered the way the economic system of America worked...the economic system was now able to expand because of the industrial expansion. 


3. From Cronon's "Rails and Water": "Because railroads ran more quickly and reliably, and could carry more people and goods over greater distances, they changed this irregular sense of time.  Trains too could be delayed. But whereas earlier western stage and steamship operators had measured their service by how many trips they made in the course of a week, railroads measured the same service in terms of the scheduled trips they made in a day...railroads changed people's ability to schedule and predict their use of time.  The long-term consequence was to move timekeeping into the realm of the mechanical clock, away from the various natural cycles which had formerly marked the flow of time" (78).
        Railroads changed the American's sense of time, especially the sense of time of those who were involved in business and trade.  Trade, which usually went in cycles of weeks, now went in cycles of days.  Time sped up, Americans were able to achieve more in a shorter amount of time.  Goods and people could travel faster, which also contributed to the industrial expansion.