Peaceful Resistance Effects

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Peaceful resistance positively impacts a free society by bringing attention to issues and allowing for the people to have a say in the actions of their government, but it also can make it harder for government to accomplish anything, resulting in subversion and plans that become impossible to implement. However, the positive impacts of peaceful resistance outweigh the negative impacts and sinister implications. Resistance and counterculture were prominent in the 60s and 70s during the height of the Vietnam War. The peaceful resistance of musicians, hippies, and a good chunk of very vocal American citizens can be directly related to America’s retreat from Vietnam. Indeed, peaceful resistance was the reason LBJ did not run for president again after his first term. LBJ, credited for implementing the ideas JFK first promised into his own plans, such as Great Society, could not bear to hear the people outside of the White House chant, “LBJ, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” as they peacefully rebelled against the Vietnam War. Though their resistance was successful in that America’s participation in Vietnam ended, it could be argued that if the government had the public’s support, LBJ would have run for …show more content…

Morals and ideals get sidelined when people get caught up in “it’s us versus them” or the drama of political parties. They begin to side for or against something because they feel like they should, or the people around them are, or because it’s the politically correct thing to do, not because they want to invoke change or progress. When this happens, not only does it make it harder for the government to implement change or progress, it creates a society where people stop thinking for themselves, both of which can be

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