Politics (essay) Politics (essay) "Politics" is an essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is part of his "Essays: Second Series", published in 1844. A premier philosopher, poet and leader of American transcendentalism, he used this essay to belie his feelings on government, specifically American government. His impact on New England thought and his views on pragmatism influenced the likes of Henry David Thoreau, Orestes Brownson, and Frederich Nietzsche, among others. Although not viewed as his most important essay in the second series, Emerson’s views on politics championed democracy and individualism, two ideas that are viewed today as undoubtedly American. By 1844,
Banfield Memorial Reserve and Grave Victoria. Ted Banfield eventually followed his father into journalism, but his particular passions were the study of nature and reading. He was strongly influenced by the writings of Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862), an American philosopher, essayist and poet whose most famous book was Walden or Life in the Woods published in 1854 and whose best known essay was On the Duty of Civil Disobedience first published in 1849. Thoreau became well known for his ideas about living close to nature and developing self-reliance within it, as well as those pertaining to the deficiencies of state power. Banfield later