Government: The Majority In The United States

Majority can be defined as, the greater number or part; a number more than half of the total; and can also be defined as, the political party, group, or faction having the most power by virtue of its larger representation or electoral strength. Majority in the sense of government does not refer to the greatest number of people, most of the time. The government consists of a few powerful individuals that control society and the population. Thoreau uses the example of the Mexican war to show that the standing government is used by a few individuals to carry out acts that are not always supported by the people. Thoreau says that the actual majority, the people, are instruments of the few individuals who are permitted to govern because they are
This majority would consist of the greater number which is the people but power turns those few individuals into a majority. That majority of few individuals use the masses, the people, as instruments because people follow laws with undue respect. These laws are created and put to practice by the majority as a way to control the people. The people follow and respect the laws because following the law is doing right, but the laws themselves are sometimes not what an individual may believe is right or just. The people follow these laws because of their undue respect for laws. Following the laws because they are laws and not because of the justice they promote makes the people the instrument of the government or the majority. The government can pass any law, and the minority, the people, will follow like puppets. Thoreau says "Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice" (2). Laws in some cases can be unjust but are still followed by the people because of the respect they have for it. People follow military law even if the law is not correct and just in their perception. When people follow these laws mindlessly they are not doing what is right and following personal beliefs but instead following the beliefs of the majority, the few powerful
The majority is those individuals with power that control and are in charge of the government. The minority, put their vote towards those who they want to be ruled by and step back to follow without checking that what the government is doing is just and correct. According to Thoreau, when power is in the hands of the people, a majority is permitted to rule because they are physically the strongest (2). Society gives, or lets, the power be handled by the majority not because it is fair to them, or right, but just because they are stronger. The power is found in a few individuals because they are considered stronger in the eyes of the minority. These few individuals become the majority and govern over the actual majority, the people which are greater in number. The majority, being legislators, congressmen and those with power in the government, use the power they have to impose what is in their benefits over the minority. The minority, being all the people in the country, the tax payers, the average working class man and even those in lower classes should step up to make sure that the majority does what is in the best interests of the