Joseph Wood Krutch said, " in practice, those whose conscience demands that they defy authority in ways that involve great consequences must be willing to accept some penalty." Krutch meant that any person who is willing to blatantly challenge or disobey an authority figure or group must be prepared to endure the consequences, good or bad, that surface as a result of his or her defiant action. All too often, people act without recognition of the effects that their action can bring about. However, Krutch would say that these people must accept these consequent conditions, which are often penalties, if they truly thought about their action in the first place. Thoreau would respond favorably to this comment and definitely agree with Krutch in that if a person were to undertake defiant actions against an authority, he or she must acknowledge the possibility and, at times, actuality of a penalty lying in the future, even though he or she doesn't deserve to be punished in the society Thoreau would hope to develop. Krutch's comment is very much relevant to society and it can be seen in instances ranging from a child arguing with his parent to a public figure standing up for what he or she believes in.
Henry David Thoreau's essay, "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience," advocates the need to prioritize one's conscience over the dictates of laws. Thoreau said that when there is an unjust government in power, such as that of the United States in the 1840s (according to Thoreau), it is not only the right, but also the duty of the citizens to rebel. Thoreau would agree that any citizen willing to defy an authority via rebellion is willing to accept any penalty that may accompany his or her action. Thoreau felt that his life was more worthwhile when he is "disobedient" to the government. "It costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of disobedience to the State, than it would to obey.
