How to never pay taxes again:

http://vitw.org/archives/922

A surprise visitor came to talk to our American Studies class today- a nonviolence activist- Kathy Kelly, from Voices for Creative Nonviolence. She came here to tell us her stories of engaging in civil disobedience and her philosophy on life and government, or at least that's what she ended up discussing with us.

She is pictured above at the "Fast For Economic Justice For Iraq", one of the many demonstrations she has been a part of.

Kelly's views were not unlike many others that I had heard, and I'm sure many students in our class agreed with her on many issues. What set her apart, however, is that she took her philosophy to heart and lived it every day.

In his essay "Civil Disobedience", Thoreau states, "...when a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize."

Kelly seems to have taken this to heart- she refuses to pay taxes as they directly fund the war, she has been arrested multiple times for displays of civil disobedience, and continues to work as an activist for nonviolent change.

In the way that Thoreau took Emmerson's ideals to heart when he went to live in the woods near Walden pond, Kelly has taken Thoreaus ideals to heart in her pursuit of change and nonviolence.