Thoreau's Relevance to America Today

One hundred and sixty-four years ago today, on May 6, 1862, Henry David Thoreau succumbed to tuberculosis and died at his family home in Concord, Massachusetts. He was 44.

Thoreau remains relevant today and will continue to be for future generations because of the timeless questions he posed and the solutions he offered for living a meaningful life. “Walden; or Life in the Woods” is the 1854 book he is best known for, but the work most applicable to our times during Donald Trump’s catastrophic presidency is his 1849 essay, “Civil Disobedience.”

Thoreau’s thesis was that citizens had a moral obligation to oppose their government’s unjust and inhumane policies, even if doing so required difficult sacrifices. That’s what nearly 100,000 ordinary Minnesotans did when they braved freezing temperatures in January in Minneapolis and risked their lives to protest the illegal detention and deportation of immigrants and the killings of American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by heavily armed ICE agents.

By his example, Thoreau taught us to live by the courage of our convictions. Slavery was the evil of his time. The Civil War began in April 1861, thirteen months before his death. Thoreau was active in the Underground Railroad in Concord, helping enslaved people escape to Canada. “I do not hesitate to say,” wrote Thoreau in Civil Disobedience, “that those who call themselves Abolitionists should at once effectively withdraw their support, both in person and property, from the government of Massachusetts, and not wait until they constitute a majority …”

There may not be slavery in America today, but Trump’s reckless and imperial presidency is no less evil to our polarized country. The “No Kings Day” protests against Trump would have pleased Thoreau. In the most recent one held in March this year, an estimated 9 million Americans participated across all 50 U.S. states, making it one of the largest single-day mass demonstrations in American history.

I joined about 10,000 of my compatriots in San Jose, California, where one sign in a sea of signs summed up why we were protesting: “Democracy dies when good people stay silent.” As Thoreau wrote in Civil Disobedience: “Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect and that will be one step toward obtaining it.” His subliminal message to us was to hope and act but not to hope more than we acted.

Trump is destroying civilizational norms and ruining America with irreversible damage by his predatory “Might is Right” and “Law of the Jungle” policies at home and abroad. He has imposed tariffs as sanctions and punishments on our allies and has threatened to commit war crimes against countries that refuse his rapacious demands. He unleashed a war of choice against Iran that continues to batter the global economy. Ordinary Americans and people around the globe are struggling to meet basic needs amid skyrocketing food and energy prices, with no end in sight. Thoreau’s call to action is as potent now as when he made it almost two centuries ago: “All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.”

On July 4, 2026, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary, the semiquincentennial, of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. “The American government,” wrote Thoreau in Civil Disobedience, “-what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity?”

Under Trump, America has been hemorrhaging integrity, dignity, decency and empathy at a horrific rate. It is our duty to stop this hemorrhage and restore America’s moral weight. Perhaps the best way to accomplish this is to vote for candidates in the consequential November midterm election at the House, Senate, state, and local levels who put country and Constitution above loyalty to a demagogue.

Civil Disobedience in 21st-Century America

Henry David Thoreau’s (1817-1862) essay "Civil Disobedience," written in 1849, made the convincing case that a person is morally obligated to disobey unjust laws of the land.

Thoreau’s exhortation has stood the test of time. He advocated fearlessness in the face of tyranny and injustice. The two issues that engaged him were the immorality of slavery and the war President James Polk waged against Mexico. 

Thoreau showed his courage by not paying taxes to the U.S. government. It landed him in jail, and even though it was only for a night, it helped make his point that unless one was true to one’s conscience and stood up for one’s principles, life was not worth living. As Thoreau wrote in Civil Disobedience, “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.” He also wrote, “There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority were derived, and treats him accordingly.”

Two historical figures who continued Thoreau’s legacy, Gandhi in India (1869-1948) and Martin Luther King (MLK) in the United States (1929-1968), used nonviolent resistance to bring down the Colonial British Rule and expose the world to the cruelty and barbarity of racism, respectively.

These nonviolent movements were not driven by naive pacifists but by people fearless in their convictions, and even though violence was used against them in the most murderous way imaginable, the people prevailed in the end.

We face a similar situation in 21st-century America under President Trump, who has unleashed a vicious and violent assault on the foundational values and critical organizations of America, including the rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble and protest, funding basic research, revoking visas of and deporting international students from our campuses, instigating reckless trade wars, attacking healthcare, social security, climate change, environmental protection agency, national park service, national institutes of health, internal revenue service and many more.

Trump and his enforcers are not only deporting immigrants without due process of law, they are also abducting innocent Americans in broad daylight and locking them up in inhuman prisons here and abroad. Those who have seen videos of these abductions on social media are compelled to ask if America is turning into a failed republic where lawlessness rules under a despotic president whose thirst for vengeance and skill as an extortionist are visible to anyone without blinders.

Threat, intimidation, and divide and conquer are Trump’s weapons of choice. Several well-known but spineless law firms and cowardly universities like Columbia caved to Trump’s threats, surrendering their self-respect and principles to a president whose main goal in life is to ensure not only that the executive branch dominates and overwhelms the legislative and judicial branches but also unquestioningly his illegal commands.

Harvard, the world's leading university and 140 years older than the United States, forcefully said ‘no’ to Trump’s threats to dismantle departments promoting diversity and freeze federal funding. As Harvard president Alan M. Gerber said, "No government, regardless of which party is in power, should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which area of study they can pursue."

Other institutions should take a cue from Harvard, not sacrificing principles at the altar of expediency, when Trump and his arrogant acolytes threaten to curb academic freedom and hinder the quest for truth.

So, who will continue the legacy of MLK in 21^st-century America, the America of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Manhattan Project, to name only two awe-inspiring milestones from our history, and save our nation from Trump?

The two who currently offer a ray of hope are Bernie Sanders, the 83-year-old Independent senator from Vermont, and his 35-year-old Democratic protégé, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) of New York.

Recently, the two completed their “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour, comprising seven events in five days. The turnouts were exceptional, including deep-red states. About 150,000 Americans, angered by Trump's brazen abuse of the law, mass layoffs, the closing of humanitarian and essential services, and arbitrary deportations and abductions, attended. Los Angeles, California — 36,000; Coachella Valley, California — 35,000; Salt Lake City, Utah — 20,000; Nampa, Idaho — 12,500; Bakersfield, California — 4,450; Folsom, California — 30,000; and Missoula, Montana — 9,000.

What Sanders and AOC have demonstrated is that a majority of Americans are upset and angry with the reckless and destructive policies of Trump. They are eager to support worthy and competent leaders who can defeat Trump and the supine Republican Party in the midterms in 2026 and in the presidential election in 2028.

Americans have rejected the current, mostly old and feckless, Democratic leadership. They are looking for new, young Democrats with fresh ideas to take on Trump and the Republican Party. Ironically, an 83-year-old is drawing huge crowds, irrespective of party affiliations, to save America from Trump and his unelected and incompetent cronies. There’s a reason why. Bernie Sanders is not a prisoner of political correctness. He is fearlessly stating the truth, which is that America is turning into a cruel and lawless country under Trump. Unless we force a change in how our country is governed, this nation will degenerate into a kakistocracy and ultimately collapse. 

However, the stark truth is that Sanders is in the twilight of his career. An octogenarian has no chance whatsoever of becoming the next president. Same goes with AOC. She is young but Americans will not rally around a woman, especially one of color, to defeat Trump. That's the brutal reality. Democrats must field a young, white male with a reasonable reputation to take on Trump for a realistic chance of defeating him. 57-year-old Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, was a viable candidate but his recent bizarre podcasts with infamous right-wingers have diminished his prospects. He may recover but the field is open for the right Democratic candidates to emerge, hopefully in the next few months.

We have surmounted existential threats to America before, most notably a Civil War (1861-1865) that took almost 700,000 lives. What we need now is this: At least 5% of the United States population of 340 million, that is, 17 million Americans, must mobilize in all 50 States to defeat Trump and his unjust, inhuman, and immoral policies. Bernie Sanders and AOC are showing us how this can be done. The 50501 website ("Fifty Protests. 50 States. 1 Movement.") is one of the platforms we can use to mobilize across America.

May we awakened Americans do everything we can to save our nation from a dangerous demagogue through mass rallies, lawsuits, strikes, boycotts and other potent forms of protest, from sea to shining sea.

Two Centuries Later, We Need Thoreau More Than Ever

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Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts, two hundred years ago today. Why is remembering and honoring Thoreau important? Because America needs him now more than ever. With president Trump waging a relentless war against the environment, Thoreau’s essays, books and the way he lived offer a focus to the resistance movement rippling across America.

“Civil Disobedience,” his 1849 essay and blueprint for radical reform that inspired the likes of Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela, should be required reading in these difficult times, if only for a new generation of Americans to become acquainted with Thoreau’s ability to speak truth to power for achievable results.

When we read in “Civil Disobedience” that, “There will never be a really free and enlightened state until the state comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived,” we in the resistance movement against our current U.S. president are inspired to continue. 

What calamity has Trump wrought so far regarding the environment?

Here’s a partial list:

·        Appointed Scott Pruitt, a bona fide climate change denier, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

·        Proposed a budget that will cut EPA funding by nearly a third, with climate and clean energy programs taking the biggest hits.

·        Opened up federal lands and water for drilling.

·        Instructed the interior department to review dozens of national monuments to see if they can be scrapped to allow access for oil and gas drilling.

·        Lifted a moratorium on coal mining on federal land and is reviewing a ban on offshore drilling off the Atlantic coast.

·        Has also called for drilling in the Arctic national refuge in Alaska.

·        Demanded rapid approval of the Keystone and Dakota Access oil-carrying pipelines that will violate the rights of Native Americans and expose the environment to potential oil-leaks.

But these pale before the most serious damage Trump has set in motion on the environment and on America’s standing in the world: His declaration on June 1 that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

The agreement was reached in 2015 between 195 countries and took effect in November 2016. The goal was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the main reason for global warming, that raises sea levels and unleashes major droughts. Trump, clueless or indifferent to the unimaginable security threat of climate change, has called man-made global warming a hoax. At the recently-concluded G-20 summit in Germany, leaders of 19 of the 20 nations reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris accord. Trump was alone in abandoning it.

Thoreau is relevant today because we continue to confirm and learn from his observations. He taught us that treating the environment with respect not only made economic sense, it made even more sense as a moral imperative. “We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander,” he wrote. “In Wildness is the preservation of the World.”

He was prescient about the concentration of power and America’s shrinking role in the world that could result from misguided policies or policies driven by considerations of commerce alone: “If we were left solely to the wordy wit of legislators in Congress for our guidance, uncorrected by the seasonal experience and the effectual complaints of the people, America would not long retain her rank among the nations.”

Thoreau’s work is also helping scientists monitor global warming, more than 160 years after the publication of his timeless Walden. In that, he was the first climatologist. Thoreau began keeping meticulous notes in 1851 about when and where plants flowered in Concord. By comparing these historical data with the data of the flowering species now, scientists were able to conclude that spring was arriving earlier now than in Thoreau’s time, a direct consequence of global warming.

There are, fortunately, many Thoreauvians among our leaders who have rejected Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris accord and are determined to forge ahead with sustainable and innovative environmental policies.

California governor Jerry Brown, who will be hosting a global summit on climate change in San Francisco in September, released a video message to tens of thousands attending the Global Citizen Festival in Hamburg, site of the G-20 summit. In it he told listeners, “President Trump doesn’t speak for the rest of America. We in California and in states all across America believe it’s time to act. It’s time to join together.”

In explaining his motivation to move into the cabin he built by his own labor on Walden Pond on July 4, 1845, and where he would spend the next two years, Thoreau wrote: “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.”

Whether or not it is clear to us, future generations of Americans will judge us by what we did to overturn Trump’s policies and the steps we took to address the threat of climate change. Will they indict us for having made a Faustian bargain, as many republicans have, passing our days like the living dead, or will they be grateful for having used our constitutional rights to front the fundamental challenge of our time, the physical well-being of the one and only planet we call home?

The Bard of Walden is waiting, watching, listening.